Kenzo Spring / Summer 2017

PARIS — Architecture is one of fashion’s leading cross disciplines amongst creative directors in search of ground on which to build their collections. What if not architecture came to mind Nicolas Ghesquière staged his recent Louis Vuitton resort show at that bastion of modern architecture, the Niteròi Contemporary Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro? In a way too architecture may well have been on the minds of Kenzo creatives Humberto Leon and Carol Lim as they held their women’s ready-to-wear Spring / Summer 2017 runway show at Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine in the Trocadéro. Surrounded by Gothic reliefs, stone columns, and of course those living statues at the runway entrance, the evening’s program could not have taken on any greater vibrancy as the collection for spring stood in sharp relief. Spiraling heels, military rain coats reworked as daring dresses, dazzling accessories, this Kenzo collection ticked all the boxes the designers sought to fill when researching Takada Kenzo’s historic showing at New York’s Studio 54 back in 1977. It was a party nearly 40 years ago and although many things have changed, the spirit of Kenzo is alive and well. On the evening Julie Hoomans, Selena Forrest , Ola Rudnicka, Marjan Jonkman, Leila Goldkuhl, Wangy, Odette Pavlova, Lia Pavlova, Grace Elizabeth, and Lineisy Montero all featured on the runway. Credits include: Client, Kenzo; Collection, Women’s Ready-To-Wear Spring / Summer 2016; Clothing design, Humberto Leon & Carol Lim; Styl