October 29, 2019 |
While we still grieve the departure of Humberto Leon and Carol Lim from the House of Kenzo, the brand’s creative team, now headed by Felipe Oliveira Baptista, are working hard to come up with ways of cheering us up. In latest news, Kenzo have teamed up with Palladium, a French footwear brand best known for their utilitarian boots, on a “a journey of modern exploration and discovery.” This is actually the second time the two houses have joined arms, the first one being in the 1980s and 1990s when Kenzo’s founder Kenzo Takada designed the Pallashock, an urban rendition of the military shoe referencing the free spirit of Takada’s creativity. The re-edition of the shoe in 2019 is part of the bigger picture which has been seeing the brand consistently looking back at the archives when paving the way for its future.
The new Palladium Pallashock by Kenzo comes in two different styles – a high and a low top – and multiple colourways, all featuring vintage logos reminiscent of what both brands looked like first time round. The technical aspects of the boots are used as stylistic elements, as the shocking pink and vibrant green quilted nylons mix with a low-tech vintage hiking boot style of the chunky rubber sole. The photographs for the campaign, shot by Dutch duo Meinke ten Have and Kees de Klein aka Meinke Klein, also bring back the archival vibes, capturing the urban landscapes in all its technicolour. And just like Takada’s shows back in the day, the cast of models in the campaign isn’t just that – circus performers, athletes, movement artists and skaters meet together as a diverse group ready for their next adventure. There’s only one bad thing about this collab – we have to wait until next Wednesday, November 6th to shop the collection. Get your credit cards at the ready, we’ll meet you at the finish line!
The Kenzo x Palladium collection will be available to shop from November 6th. Photographs by Meinke Klein.
