Kenzo’s Humberto Leon and Carol Lim are masters of re-defining the idea of what’s cool and the everyday cult. For spring/summer they channel the brand’s influences for a good cause and some fashion activism, looking at the sea and overfishing for inspiration. Natives of California and with the ocean’s troubles close to their hearts, to do their small part they’ve designed a charitable slogan tee daubed with the slogan No Fishing No Nothing, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Blue Marine Foundation – an organisation aiming to protect marine life in the world’s oceans.
Honing in on all things marine, the collection weaves in together sea motifs, surf culture, and references to L.A.’s underground music scene. An impressive production featuring a runway bouncing with bowls of water hanging from the speakers, the girls came from behind a wall of water out onto the catwalk in easy-tailored cotton separates, brushed with a water print mimicking rainwater on glass, waves cut into crop tops and layers of them descending down dresses of water prints. Jackets were oversize with silhouettes, then laser-cut sliced low under the arm with back vents and there also came fish motifs leaping across biker jackets nodded to the house’s Japanese origins.
There’s a new It bag for next season, the Kalifornia – a soft clutch worked in the fabrics and prints along with cross-front mules with flat metal heels paired with the coolest sunglasses looped over the ear like jewellery and held in place appropriately by a jewel water drop.
We think the collection’s melting-fish print stands a very good chance of becoming the Kenzo Eye of Spring ’14. It was an all round, enlivening experience presenting the same easy and wearable clothes we love and know from Kenzo. An uplifting collection giving us the opportunity to think about the world we live in.
Images courtesy of Style.com
by Annie Fong