Part 3 of 3: Paris Fashion Week celebration of fashion, beauty and diversity

Paris Fashion Week is the last fashion week of the 2019/2020 season, ending the fashion season with a bang. Paris Fashion week occurs Feb. 25 to March 5 and Sept. 23 to Oct. 1 every year and follows the notable New York, London, and Milan Fashion weeks. Following on from the previous article in this series (focused on Milan Fashion Week), comes this final piece dedicated to Fashion week based in one of the fashion capitals of the world, Paris. 

Designer Kenzō Takada who is the founder of Kenzo the worldwide brand of perfumes, skincare products and clothes is a well known Japanese-French fashion designer. He is now the acting Honorary President of the Asian Couture Federation and his brand Kenzo runway shows in many fashion weeks across the globe but Paris Fashion Week is one very familiar to him. 

Kenzō Takada was originally born in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan on Feb. 278 1939 and as a young fashion designer embarked on a life-changing journey, having never left Japan before. According to Vogue Magazine, Kenzō bought a one-way, second-class passage to Europe aboard a boat. This 6-week journey took him to ports in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Djibouti, Egypt and then arriving in France.  

6 years after his arrival, Kenzō opened a boutique in Paris selling his designs. Takada designed garments, unlike anything Paris was used to seeing in the fashion world. His first collection debuted in the Spring of 1970 and consisted of Kimono-inspired pieces that were so differential from trends that had ruled in the past. He brought his own style of making garments to Europe which is what made him so uniquely popular. 

Soon enough buyers, fans, and press were filling his shows after just a few seasons of Kenzō showing off his extraordinary designs. Kenzō’s multi-hued approach to his clothes was a celebration of a harmonious and eclectic world. His designs started a whole new wave of incorporating Japanese cultural designs into European culture. 

Despite Kenzō having retired in 1999, his Fashion house still lives on to create pieces for the brand Kenzo. The mixture of incorporated Asian style still exists as Kenzō Takada left a mark with his designs. The brand Kenzo has been on the runway at many fashion week shows even since Takada has retired, continuing his legacy. 

Owner of Clutter-free closets, Sonja Motley states that

Model diversity is still evolving but new faces in all colors are becoming the standard…the model call tells the true story.

Sonja Motley, 2019

According to Emilia Petrarca from W Magazine, the fall 2019 Kenzo Paris Fashion Week shows incorporated Humberto Leon’s, acting creative director of Kenzo, father’s Chinese-Peruvian heritage. The garments that were presented on the modes were telling a story of the Tusán people. The clothes incorporated traditional garments that were modernized, ponchos in waterproof fabrics and blanket plaids as workwear shirts or sweaterdresses.

The cultural history of the start of Kenzo with Kenzō Takada originating from Japan and moving to France, becoming an expatriate to Humberto Leon taking over and dedicating a show at Paris Fashion week to his father’s Chinese-Peruvian heritage demonstrates the diversity and talent that shows that is present on the runways of Paris Fashion Week. 

The last article of the series and the last Fashion week of the season!