Kenzo (company)
The Kenzo SA is a 1970 by the Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada in Paris based fashion company . Under the brand name KENZO (in capital letters ), high-priced prêt-à-porter fashion, accessories and perfume for women and men are offered via an international network of its own boutiques and upscale retailers . The company, which is known for its colorful fashion and perfume creations, has been part of the French luxury goods group LVMH since 1993 and has been run without Takada since 1999.
Company history
The Japanese fashion designer Kenzō Takada (born February 27, 1939) came to Paris in 1965, had worked for various fashion manufacturers and founded his own fashion company in 1970 together with his business partner Gilles Raysse and Japanese friends. Raysse was the head of the Franco-Japanese company and was the managing director of Takada's company.
The first Kenzo boutique, which Takada furnished with floral wallpaper in the jungle style, was opened in the same year in the Paris gallery Vivienne under the name Jungle Jap (in French short for Jungle Japonaise , in German Japanese jungle ; in English derogatory about jungle - Japse ) opened, on the upper floor of which a studio had been set up. There, on April 14, 1970, at a time when fashion shows were generally reserved for haute couture fashion, the first presentation of women's fashion in a highly regarded prêt-à-porter fashion show took place there. Takada presented - also due to limited financial resources - unconventional combinations of materials, including simple cotton fabrics, bright colors and, in some cases, folkloric ethnic patterns printed with flowers. Flowing smock dresses, dresses reminiscent of kimonos or oversized dungarees that were influenced by Asian and European influences were something new in the Parisian fashion scene at the time. The fact that one of the models shown there, a patchwork tunic, was made by of the fashion magazine ELLE was chosen as the cover picture, brought the young company enormous attention. Takada knew the editor-in-chief of ELLE, Claude Brouet, personally and his business partner Raysse also had very good contacts in the fashion scene and the press. The following fashion show was held in the arcades of Galerie Vivienne.
In 1971, Takada fashion was demonstrated in New York City and Japan . In 1972 a KENZO fashion show had to be interrupted because the rush of spectators and press representatives was too great. In 1976 the location of the Jungle Jap Boutique was relocated to the Place des Victoires in Paris, where the company headquarters were also located on three floors and a KENZO flagship store is still located today . In 1977 one of Takada's fashion shows was held at New York's legendary Studio 54 nightclub . Takada's fashion shows during this time were sometimes spectacular events , for example at the end of the 1970s when one of his shows were held in circus tents and Takada rode into the ring on an elephant for the final applause . It was not until 1980 that the company operated under the name KENZO , after the name Jungle Jap had been given up. Despite the brand's great success, the company ran into financial difficulties in the late 1970s due to Raysse's mismanagement . Takada separated from him in 1980 and appointed the fashion manager François Beaufume, who brought the company back on track by 1983.
KENZO men's fashion was launched in 1983 and the women's fashion range was expanded to include the second lines KENZO Studio , KENZO Jungle and KENZO Jeans in the following years . In 1988 the fragrance division KENZO Parfums was founded, which in the same year launched the first women's perfume called KENZO in a bottle with a rose-petal- shaped cap . The first men's perfume " KENZO pour Homme " followed in 1991 with a bamboo leaf- shaped bottle . Since then, countless other perfumes have been launched under the name KENZO. Since 2001 there has also been a skin care range called KENZOKI.
In 1993 the French luxury goods group LVMH took over the company KENZO from Takada for 482 million francs (equivalent to around 70 million euros); However, Takada stayed with the company as chief designer. From the mid-1990s to 2006 there was a special model of the Renault Twingo designed by KENZO .
After Takada's departure at his own request in 1999, the KENZO collections were designed by various designers, initially by Takada's assistants, see list below. The second lines Studio , Jungle and Jeans were discontinued after the takeover by LVMH and the range was reduced. The company withdrew from the US market in 2003. In addition to the main KENZO line, including accessories , for women and men, there is now a children's collection and a home collection with furniture and interior items. Annual sales including the proceeds from lucrative perfume licenses were estimated at around one billion euros at the end of the 2000s; At the end of the 2010s it was less than 400 million euros (LVMH does not publish any figures for KENZO).
In 2008 the Sardinian designer Antonio Marras, who also runs his own fashion company named after him, became the creative director of all KENZO collections. He was succeeded in 2011 by the Californian opening ceremony designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim. Leon and Lim then concentrated on a single main KENZO line for women, men and children, but expanded the accessories business and regularly brought special seasonal collections onto the market ( Mememento , KENZO Sport , KENZO Logo , KENZO Tiger etc.) . The KENZO brand was rejuvenated under the two Americans (among other things with colorful streetwear , embroidered baseball caps, tiger head motifs and tops adorned with a large KENZO lettering) and has since been back as a hip, youthful-hip fashion brand. The company's founder Kenzo Takada was a guest at the KENZO fashion shows. In January 2013, KENZO was a guest brand at the men's fashion fair Pitti Immagine . In November 2016, Leon and Lim designed a 96-piece KENZO collection as a guest designer for H&M at lower prices. For the 2018 summer campaign, KENZO hired Britney Spears as a model . Leon and Lim left Kenzo on July 1, 2019. LVMH appointed the Portuguese Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who was chief designer at Lacoste from 2010 to 2018, to be their successor as Kenzo Creative Director at the end of June 2019 . KENZO fashion is featured on the catwalk twice a year (women and men in the same fashion show) at Paris Fashion Week .
There are around 120 KENZO stores worldwide. The brand is represented in around 600 retail stores in Europe. The company also returned to the US market in the early 2010s. In 1997 a KENZO boutique was opened in Düsseldorf (meanwhile closed), and there was a KENZO corner in the Galeries Lafayette in Berlin . In 2009 an online shop was launched on the KENZO company website, which was redesigned under Leon and Lim from 2011. In 2010 the house of KENZO celebrated its 40th anniversary, for which the then chief designer Antonio Marras organized a fashion show in the form of a retrospective over the previous 40 company years. The company's head office is located at 18, rue Vivienne in Paris, not far from the Galerie Vivienne, where Kenzo Takada opened his first boutique in 1970.
Fashion designer at KENZO
| KENZO women's collection | KENZO men's collection |
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KENZO perfume
Since 1988, over 100 different fragrances for women and men have been launched under the brand name KENZO, including numerous variations, special editions and so-called flankers of KENZO perfumes previously launched on the market.
The most famous KENZO perfumes include:
- KENZO - (Women, 1988)
- Ça Sent Beau - Ladies, 1988
- KENZO (pour) Homme - Herren, 1991 and in the following years variations of it ( Fresh , Boisée , Sport , Night etc.)
- Perfume d'été - women, 1993
- L'eau (par) KENZO - Women, 1996; Herren, 1999 and numerous variations
- KENZO Jungle - Women, 1996; Gentlemen, 1998
- Le Monde Est Beau - Ladies, 1997
- FlowerbyKENZO - women, 2000 and in the following years variations of it
- KENZOair - Herren, 2003 and the variation Intense , 2003
- KENZO Amour - Women, 2006 and numerous variations ( My Love , Jeu d'Amour , Florale etc.)
- KENZO Power - Men, 2008 and the Variation Cologne , 2009
- KENZO World - women, 2016 and the variation Intense , 2017
- Aqua KENZO - women, 2018; Gentlemen, 2018
Picture gallery
KENZO flagship store in Paris
KENZO boutique in Paris
KENZO boutique in Hanoi
Watermarked campaign for KENZO by DIS Installation Art, 2012
Rear view of a KENZO Twingo
KENZO tram in Hong Kong, 2018
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Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Designer ABC: K for Kenzo , faz.net, March 24, 2006.
- ↑ Fashion like from the Garden of Eden: Kenzo celebrates its 40th anniversary ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , vogue.de, 2010.
- ↑ Au revoir Kenzo! ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , textilwirtschaft.de, September 16, 1999.
- ^ Spice of brevity , spiegel.de, November 1, 1976.
- ↑ Kenzo passe dans le giron de Louis Vuitton , lesechos.fr, 3 August 1993.
- ↑ Kenzo Takada sues LVMH ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , textilwirtschaft.de, March 3, 2005.
- ↑ Kenzo has new chief designer , textilwirtschaft.de, July 12, 2011.
- ^ Kenzo: Antonio Marras is promoted , textilwirtschaft.de, October 1, 2008.
- ↑ Kenzo has new chief designer , textilwirtschaft.de, July 12, 2011.
- ^ New Creative Lead at Kenzo , wwd.com, July 12, 2011.
- ↑ Fashion brand Kenzo is celebrating a comeback , derwesten.de, November 14, 2012.
- ↑ Kenzo: Jungle with Sleeves , derstandard.at, November 18, 2012.
- ↑ Kenzo: Pack the tiger! , gala.de, November 21, 2012.
- ↑ Finally there: The Kenzo x H&M glamour.de collection, November 3, 2016
- ^ "Kenzo x H&M" show in New York vogue.de, October 20, 2016
- ↑ Britney Spears is the new face of Kenzo vogue.de, March 21, 2018
- ↑ Felipe Oliveira Baptista becomes creative director at Kenzo derstandard.de, July 1, 2019
- ↑ "Watermarked" Kenzo mens Fall / Winter 2012 by DIS youtube.com, September 24, 2012
