Newly appointed creative director of Kenzo, Nigo marked the end of menswear Sunday morning with a retro, deferential collection hosted at Galerie Vivienne. Fun fact from Vogue.com: it was Nigo who serendipitously first connected Virgil Abloh to Michael Burke of Louis Vuitton and he collaborated with the late designer twice on LV x NIGO capsule collections. After Kenzo Takada passed away in 2020 to COVID-19, Nigo’s appointment heralded a diverse expansion in Paris, however late, as he is one of only two Asian creative directors at the head of a Parisian luxury house (Rhuigi Villaseñor just became the second with his last week appointment at Bally). With that in mind, Nigo took on traditional workwear, bringing in the Japanese expertise in quality denim and including the textile in kimonos, blazers, and overalls. Kenzo’s signature red poppy print made a return in the form of tailored vests and flowing, midi skirts, then, later on, as the poppies turn psychedelic with a floral explosion. Varsity and aviator jackets will certainly be coveted when colder temps come back around this year and the berets toed the line of camp, with their oversized nature. With a cast led by Piergiorgio Del Moro and Samuel Ellis Scheinman of DMCASTING (New York) the co-ed show included Adele Aldighieri, Mika Schneider, Sang Woo Kim, Awar Odhiang, Lennon Gallagher, Jan Baiboon and Malik Anderson. Yes, the audience was a star-studded affair including Kanye West, Julia Fox, Shygirl , Tyler The Creator, Pusha T and Pharrell Williams who summed up the collection perfectly as a “Wes Anderson film”.
