Kenzo S/S 2017

Mood board: Creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon never fail to rub some of their L.A. cool onto the Paris Fashion Week proceedings. Kenzo is always upbeat and youthful. At the entrance to their S/S 2017 show, bright young things milled around wearing raspberry pink sweatshirts emblazoned with founder Kenzo Takada’s original signature and inside, the collection paid homage to the energy and look of the nineties New York club scene.

Best in show: The clothes were a mixture of buzzy separates and good outerwear. Suitably styled in club-kid fashion, boxers were hoiked up above waistbands and jeans with twisted hems were worn with sporty zip-up jackets with high rib collars. Early-internet graphics that were originally created by a host of artists and promoters for legendary clubnights were splashed across low-crotch trousers, tight leggings and short shorts. 

Scene setting: The catwalk was a raised tiled platform, sprayed with abstract graffiti lines in petrol blue, acid green and black. Models came out in pairs or in groups of three or four, bringing Takada’s own shows from the 1980s to mind. They walked to a thumping house soundtrack that included the Jungle Brothers and Todd Terry’s House Is A Feeling (at 10am on a Saturday morning). Kenzo S/S 2017 is straight up New York, old-Paris new rave. 

INFORMATION

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans