KENZO TAKADA

In 1970 the young Japanese designer Kenzo Takada opened his first boutique Jungle Jap in Paris and revolutionised the fashion world His colourful ethnic and nomadic influenced collections made with luxurious and vibrantly patterned textiles tweaked the conventions of haute couture while maintaining the quality of traditional European clothing houses He was influenced by Parisian fashion and Japanese kimonos boldly mixing colours and prints cuts and materials His vibrant palette and pattern combinations were joyful and whimsical and very different from the subtle tailoring of the traditional Paris couturier In his inspired blend of the opulent and the exotic he developed a signature style and found early success With stunning photography and over 300 sketches from Kenzo s private collection this book traces more than forty years of his creative output It includes photographs from his high energy runway shows in addition to personal photographs and a behind the scene look at the creation of a spectacular wedding dress opening a window on the creative process and capturing Kenzo s energy vision and presence Superbly illustrated throughout with pencilled and hand coloured sketches swatched drawings and previously unpublished archival photograp