February 27, 2020 |
Felipe Oliveira Baptista ushered in a new era at Kenzo. The brightly coloured insta-dressing, with which his Kenzo predecessors defined the last decade, has gone. The designer replaced it with his vision of an urban nomad, dressed to navigate city life in tough times. The show, held in a clear plastic poly tunnel in a walled garden, pressed reset on the Kenzo aesthetic. The silhouette combined protection with a unisex monasticism. Both men and women wore hazmat-hood hats, with long capes attached and long tunics over trousers tied at the ankle. Some of the hooded, balloonahemmed silhouettes, rendered in weatherproof cotton, had the grandeur of a Balenciaga couture gown shot through a modern sportswear prism. A painterly motif of a roaring tiger recurred on knits and unisex tunics. Bags erred on practical with models toting leather carriers for water bottles and credit cards (the 21st century essentials). The presentation has an energy and urgency and the clothes were fit for modern life.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans.
