April 14, 2013 |
Japan, rather sadly, is not known for its jungles. The Japanese have cherry blossom. And Mount Fuji. But sadly no jungles. So if you are going to do a collection called Jungle Jap, after Takada Kenzo’s legendary Paris store, a name that was inspired by his journey from East to West, compromises have to be made. Other jungles have to be found. Thai jungles, for example, are a rather marvellous alternative. So says Humberto Leon, the creative director of Kenzo. He even rode an elephant.
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “Tell me about Thailand. You went there recently. What did you do? Was it fun? Did you go to ‘The Beach’?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “We were in Thailand earlier this year because we wanted to visit the East Asian jungle for the spring 2013 collection. Kenzo Takada went to Thailand on his legendary journey from Tokyo to Paris by way of boat. We went to Yao Noi island, also. It was amazing. Carol and I went with Chloë Sevigny and my boyfriend.”
(Random fact: Ko Yao Yai (island) is the largest island in the Ko Yao Archipelago. The island group is situated in the Phang Nga Bay in the Phang Nga province of Thailand. Ko Yao Yai means Big Yao Island. The other main island of the group is Ko Yao Noi (Little Yao Island), located off Ko Yao Yai’s northern side and separated from it by a narrow sound. The population of Ko Yao Yai is about 8,000, whereas the population of Ko Yao Noi is about 4,500. The population is mostly Sunni Muslim. The area of the archipelago is 137,6 km2.)
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “Was it your first time in Thailand?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “It was our first time and it was incredible.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “Why did you choose a Thai jungle as the basis of the most recent Kenzo collection? Why not the Amazon? Or something African?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “The East Asian jungle is very specific because of its climate and the wildlife. Here, the tiger is the king of the jungle, and it is also where the clouded leopard is from.”
(Random fact: The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN. Its total population size is suspected to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing population trend and no single population numbering more than 1,000 adults.)
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “Did you go up the River Kwai? Apparently, there’s a floating hotel – a floatel. Did you stay there? As part of the jungle-trek experience?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “We didn’t go to the River Kwai, we went to Khao Sok and hiked deep into the jungle every day. We experienced life with all the villagers who live there.”
(Random fact: The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British-American World War II film directed by David Lean based on the 1952 French novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa. The film was filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The bridge in the film was located near Kitulgala.)
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “How was the jungle-trek experience for you? What did you see?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “It was incredible – we saw all different types of monkeys, lizards with parachute bodies, and incredible greenery.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “You travel a lot. Well, you seem to. How many times a month do you get on a plane?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “I get on a plane about four times a month. It’s quite a lot – it seems like it’s almost every week.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “How important is travel to what you do at Kenzo? Could you do the job without it? Could it happen if you were just stuck in a room with a few books on exotic destinations?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “The job can be done anywhere, anyhow, any way, regardless of travel. Yet it is travelling that gives me the energy and the drive to work harder.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “Is the way you work with Kenzo very different from the way you work on Opening Ceremony? You started Opening Ceremony from scratch, whereas Kenzo has a really vibrant history behind it. Does that history inform what you do? Is it important to your work with Kenzo? Do the two – Kenzo and OC – ever cross over?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “Kenzo has its own 40-year history, and with it comes a very different working method from how we work with Opening Ceremony. We strive to find the new at Opening Ceremony, while at Kenzo we are telling the story of a brand. The history of Kenzo is very important, it gives us a glimpse of the type of energy we have to put in the brand. While both Kenzo and OC are done by Carol and me, we really work on the two separately. The common denominator, however, remains us.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “You must spend a lot of time in Paris now. What’s your Paris season? Do you like Paris in the springtime?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “My favourite season is spring in Paris. You start to see people smile when the sun lasts longer and people are happier overall.”
(Random fact: “I Love Paris” is a popular song written by Cole Porter and published in 1953. The song was introduced by Lilo in the musical Can-Can.)
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “What are your favourite things to do in Paris?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “I love discovering new arrondissements in Paris. I love the 13th, the 18th, the 11th… It’s so exciting to explore all the different neighbourhoods.”
(Random fact: The city of Paris is divided into twenty arrondissements municipaux. They are arranged in the form of a clockwise spiral, starting in the middle of the city, with the first on the Right Bank (north bank) of the Seine. On 11 October 1795, Paris was divided into twelve arrondissements. They were numbered from west to east, with numbers 1-9 situated on the Right Bank of the Seine, and 10-12 on the Left Bank. Each arrondissement was subdivided into four quartiers, which corresponded to the 48 original districts created in 1790. On 1 January 1860, new territory was defined to be within the city by Napoleon III. The previous twelve arrondissements were rearranged with this new territory to become the present twenty.)
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “When you go away, do you do your research? Buy up every guide and plan each day with military precision? Or do you just get on a plane and see what happens?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “I generally get on a plane, look up things to do on the plane, land and just go for it. Light planning is always best – you get to do things spontaneously.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “Why do you travel? Business or pleasure?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “I travel because I want to go somewhere. For both business and pleasure – I will fly whenever necessary.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “What’s your favourite city/cities? The ones with OC boutiques?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “Yes, my favourite cities are where we have Opening Ceremony stores, but I would add Paris to that list. It is also my city now.”
NATALIE DEMBINSKA: “You’ve been pretty much everywhere. And have shops pretty much everywhere. Is there anywhere you haven’t been that you would like to visit?”
HUMBERTO LEON: “There are too many places that I want to visit that I haven’t yet, such as Tel Aviv, the Maldives, Greece again, Vietnam, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Georgia in America – and many, many more.”
by Natalie Dembinska
