Kenzo Takada’s biggest career milestones – remembering ‘Japan’s most popular fashion designer’, who died of Covid-19 on the sidelines of Paris Fashion Week
Kenzo Takada shook up the Paris fashion scene alongside Yves Saint Laurent and Sonia Rykiel and paved the way for fellow Japanese designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo – remembering the ‘first Asian designer’
Takada is celebrated for his colourful personality, contagious smile, and the joy and creativity of his works. Below, we remember the biggest milestones in the designer’s life.
Takada gained early recognition as a designer in his home country of Japan, yet at 25 he set sail to see the world and visit Paris – where he was meant to make it big.
Known for his modern folklore-inspired aesthetic, Takada has his first-ever overseas trip to credit for his exotic style, cross-cultural references, and the global language of his designs.
In 1964, Takada had to leave home as his block of flats was being demolished to make way for the Tokyo Olympics. With 10 months’ worth of rent courtesy of the city government in hand, Takada used the money to travel to the City of Lights – a place he’d only dreamed of, having only seen it in his sisters’ magazines and in the 1960s films that painted Paris as fashion’s centre.
The journey – which Takada made by ship, stopping off at various places along the way – gave him a glimpse into the world. Takada sampled different cultures and ways of life and, ultimately, the unique ways in which the locals dressed.
