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Kenzo brand history – an enchanting story about a true fashion empire

Kenzo Takada, founder of the Kenzo brand and one of the greatest names in the fashion industry died this year, leaving behind a fashion empire known for its uncompromising and daring values that, in combination with bold and unique designs established the brand as a fashion industry giant.

For more than half a century now, the Kenzo brand has been proclaiming borderless fashion that celebrates nature and cultural diversity. From its origins until now, the Kenzo brand became a symbol of revolutionary and eclectic aesthetics, which has been breaking rules and providing an authentic look that everyone adored and praised.

Takeda built his fashion empire relatively fast despite the fact that he initially had low-chances for success, given his origins and anonymity within the scene. In the following text, we will help you discover more about the origins of the Kenzo brand, its history, and the demanding course of thriving for success in the already established Paris fashion scene.

Nevertheless, Kenzo’s brand history is an enchanting story about a fashion empire built on the aspiration to serve a good cause, which is a good lesson to future generations concerning the different and unique approaches as the right method for leaving a mark in history.

Kenzo brand history – all fashion roads lead to Paris

Kenzo Takada was born in Himeji, a city located in Hyogo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. Later, he had been studying at the Bunka College of Fashion in Tokyo.

The Kenzo brand pieces represent the conjunction of European and Eastern design, and until this day, Kenzo has been a brand that is proud of celebrating multiculturalism and diversity.

Takada, traveled the world to understand different cultures and their traditions and embodied its long-established prints, patterns into the brand creations, which later became the famous Kenzo brand signature. Due to some personal reasons, Takeda announced his retirement in 1999, leaving the creative directing to Roy Krejberg and Gilles Rosier.

From 2008 until 2011, the creative director of the Kenzo brand was Antonio Marras, but his Asian-American co-creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon were the duo that helped Kenzo to enter the Haute Couture scene.

The most recognized pattern of tigers and the glittering “evil eyes” prints were the ideas of Lim and Leon, and they proved that Takada left the Kenzo brand heritage in good hands, to the people who understood the ideas and values of the brand and continued to develop them in the right direction.

Kenzo brand logo & The Kenzo Tiger

Carol Lim and Humberto Leon decided to bring in some changes considering the logo of the Kenzo brand, and, the iconic, recognizable Kenzo Tiger, has become a new distinguishable sign of Kenzo. The Kenzo tiger is one of the most popular fashion symbols of our age and many celebrities, including Michele Obama, adores it.

Even though Kenzo’s official logo is the brand name made of thick capital letters, the brand’s visual identity is strongly associated with a tiger mascot, which is also one of the most recognizable brand prints which appears on both clothing and accessories collections.

The Kenzo Tiger is usually placed on a darker background, with differently colored contours, depending on the style and fabrics. The official Kenzo logo is also used on a clothing collection, and this logo successfully reconciles East and West, traditional and contemporary, and originality and boldness of design rise as a result.

The primary Kenzo logo was decorated with flowers which communicated well one of the core philosophies of the Kenzo house – the celebration of nature. However, the Kenzo brand transformed into a brand reserved for the bold and daring individuals, and the tiger logo communicated this clearly and respectfully with the initial idea.

Kenzo clothes and values – celebrating nature and cultural diversity

All of Kenzo’s collections are still inspired by nature in some way and this brand is known for its uncompromised values and philosophy. In 2019 Felipe Oliveira Baptista took over the creative direction of Kenzo and continued the brand’s vision and concept.

Since the French label has been known for its distinctive tiger logo, Baptista reached out to the World Wildlife Fund’s to discuss a collaboration, which resulted in a new collection of T-shirts, hoodies, and “essential garments” made of certified organic cotton printed with Kenzo-s tiger, with 10 dollars from every purchase going to the WWF.

This way, Baptista stated that he wanted to raise awareness of responsibilities within the fashion industry for massive environmental damage. From the 1980s, as the label became more known, it expanded its lines to the men’s, children’s, homeware, and even perfume.

Besides celebrating nature being one of the main inspirations for all of Kenzo’s clothing collection, and embodying its prints, patterns into the brand creations, this brand is famous for its unstructured forms creating loose and bulky silhouettes, praising comfort and coziness that clothes can provide.

Kenzo coats & jackets

Kenzo jackets and coats express an inventive, urban-inspired look, mixing elegance and comfort. There is a wide variety of models from the bomber and parka jackets to reversible color block coat.

The Kenzo jackets collection showcases prominent designs coming in bold and bright colors with an embroidered Kenzo tiger head on the back of the jacket, giving the effect of a playful outfit and eclectic style.

Kenzo accessories – bags & jewelry

Kenzo accessories cover a wide collection of Kenzo bags, Kenzo wallets, and Kenzo jewelry. Kenzo accessories are also inspired by nature and comfort, and the Kenzo bags and jewelry are very often decorated with animal prints and the recognizable Kenzo tiger head.

Kenzo bags are very practical and designed to be suitable for everyday activities and appropriate for every style and daytime.

Kenzo fragrances and perfumes

Kenzo’s inspiration in nature is not left out when it comes to the Kenzo fragrance collection.

The very first world-wide known perfume from the Kenzo brand is Kenzo Flower, with an obvious natural connotation, and poppy-flower notes, which has become an icon in the field of perfumery.

All of the latter fragrances are also nature-inspired, with floral, fruity, and colorful scents. The Kenzo brand has more than a hundred perfumes in its fragrance collection including Kenzo World, Kenzo Jungle, Aqua Kenzo, and other fragrances infused with a zest for life and poetic appeal.

If you are a fan of the Kenzo brand philosophy, design, and mission, at Porto Montenegro the exclusive marina and yachting paradise in the Mediterranean, you can buy its recognizable pieces and contribute to the WWF and their goal to double the global population of wild tigers by 2022.

Visit Kenzo store located in the luxurious shopping village, and treat yourself to some modern, must-have pieces which will make your style distinctive and relaxed at the same time, and support a good cause of tiger conservation by buying garments from the capsule collection Kenzo x WWF.