Kenzo Spring / Summer 2016

PARIS — There will always be clothes in fashion, hopefully, but those seeking a spectacle or daresay what the master plumbers of public relations describe as a social media moment, then they could have done worse than feasting their eyes and smartphones on Sunday morning’s Kenzo Spring / Summer 2016 runway show. Staged far from the gilded wilds of many of the single-digit arrondissements of Paris, way out in the 19th, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim went for a runway program that combined a traditional catwalk show with a finale presentation that fixed all the models in position on self-moving platforms at rest, thereby inviting curious show-goers not only a closer look, but also innumerable opportunities to flood social media timelines with photos. This is nothing new of course, Dries Van Noten has been praised by this page for much the same. The shrewdness of this particular setup no doubt comes from the mastery of the retail shopping experience the design pair have gleaned from years of proprietorship of Opening Ceremony. See the clothes and accessories up close, share with closest friends and followers, and a market is thus created anew or at the very least further strengthened. This was the case Sunday morning which saw a lucky seven models at Next including Maja Salamon, Liza O, Lili Sumner, Klementyna Dmowska, Piene Burgers, Saadi, and Hedvig Palm all participate in this spectacle of a runway show. There were clothes as well, designed with the global traveler in mind, whic