Nigo's Kenzo Men's and Women's A/W 2022-23 collection was showcased in January during Paris Fashion Week. Its front row was packed with celebrities, among them musicians Kanye West and his new partner Julia Fox, Tyler, the Creator and Pharrell Williams wearing the controversial emerald and diamond glasses he designed for Tiffany's. But the real protagonists of the event were, naturally, the clothes and accessories on the runway.
The streetwear icon and founder of A Bathing Ape who last year produced a capsule with Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton, did the trick, perfectly managing to bring back on the runway the spirit of Kenzo Takada, who died in 2020 from COVID-19 related complications.
Takada moved to Paris in 1964, opening in 1970 his first boutique Jungle Jap in Galerie Vivienne in Paris (his first fashion show took place here in April 1970), a space he decorated with a replica of Henri Rousseau's painting "Le Douanier" that also inspired the name of the shop.
At the time Takada was already planting the seeds of a fashion revolution: all the pejorative connotations surrounding the "Jap" term were transformed in the name of his boutique into ironic references to a positive identity. In the mid-'70s Takada launched his own maison with a precise message in mind: offering women a fresh approach to fashion and the chance to mix different patterns and materials, creating a very peculiar style that combined Japanese inspirations with Parisian influences.
Nigo's Kenzo show took place in Galerie Vivienne to create a symbolical link with the founder of the label, but the designer also made further connections, creating a collection of wearable, functional and desirable designs that were clearly in line with the original styles created by Kenzo Takada.
The new creative director conjured up the spirit of Kenzo through colourful pieces, practical separates and vibrant poppy or floral camo prints for elegant or casual dresses.
There were also suits, skirts and waistcoats with prints of Kenzo's original fashion sketches; midi skirts matched with knits decorated with oversized intarsia poppies; plaid blanket coats and denim workwear.
Japanese traditional garments such as haori jackets in navy, gray and olive, or gingham aprons evoking the garments donned at tea ceremonies were matched with formal or casual wear with great results.
Accessories comprised fun flat animal scarves, berets and newsboy caps with the year of Kenzo's house founding. As a whole, the collection combined different souls, from workwear, retro and preppy to traditional Japanese moods filtered through a Western eye.
There is also another point that connected Nigo's collection to the original label: at the very beginning of his career, Kenzo would sell his designs as soon as possible, without thinking in terms of seasons and collections; with Nigo it will be more or less the same, with one difference - there will be limited edition drops.
The house launched today its first limited-edition capsule, a sort of introduction to the A/W 2022 collection, featuring a floral graphic inspired by the boke, a species of flowering quince native to Japan.
The first capsule revolves around a five-piece wardrobe for women and men, including sweatshirts, long-sleeve T-shirts, a jersey cardigan, cargo pants and a cargo skirt in Japanese washed cotton twill and a blanket.
Available from today online on the brand’s website and in selected stores, the collection will be followed by more drops inspired by nature to pay homage to the label's founder.
Together with the collection there is also something else: Kenzo's drops will indeed me accompanied by a limited collection of NFTs that will grant exclusive access into the world of the fashion house.
So far we have seen a wide range of experiments regarding NFTs and fashion houses: Gucci announced its first NFT - an artwork taken from its fashion collection "Aria" - last April; in August last year Louis Vuitton launched its video game on iOS, "Louis the Game", the first to offer players NFTs as a reward, while Burberry partnered with Mythical Games to launch a non-fungible token collection in their flagship title, Blankos Block Party (Burberry has so far been the first luxury brand to feature in Blankos Block Party).
The multiplayer party game features digital vinyl toys known as Blankos that live on a blockchain. Burberry Blanko – a shark named Sharky B covered in Burberry's TB Summer Monogram – could be purchased, upgraded, and sold within the Blankos Block Party marketplace.
Givenchy launched last November 15 unique NFTs on OpenSea, with proceeds of the project - done in collaboration with digital artist Chito - going to charity.
Balmain was instead the first luxury brand to pursue multiple NFT projects: its first NFT - the digital Flame Dress, designed exclusively for Vogue Singapore - was release in August, in collaboration with Singaporean games organisation Altava.
Four designs from the Spring/Summer 2022 collection were then translated into eight NFTs and, last December, Balmain launched NFT trainers accompanied by VIP experiences, linked to its collaboration on a physical pair of sneakers with celebrity gym Dogpound in New York and Los Angeles. Mattel jumped on the bandwagon with an NFT auction of Barbie avatars clad in digital renditions of the Barbie X Balmain physical collection.
Last September Dolce & Gabbana sold at auction a nine-piece collection - "Collezione Genesi" - that included five physical creations and their virtual iterations, plus four solely digital designs.
Conceived with and auctioned by UNXD (founded by Shashi Menon, the Dubai-based publisher of Vogue Arabia), a curated marketplace for digital luxury and culture, the collection was sold for a total of 1,885.719 Ether (Ethereum cryptocurrency), the equivalent of nearly $5.7 million. Among the pieces sold there were opulent headpieces such as The Impossible Tiara and The Doge Crown.
It is clear that, for what regards fashion and NFTs, some brands are moving quicker than others, but so far there have been quite a few luxury houses joining the trend.
It is important to note, though, that these experiences have been one-offs or projects done in connections with videogames or for charity auctions. So far the NFTs released by fashion houses have been conceived as collectible items, but also as complementary to physical collections: they are indeed used to enrich the physical experience by giving to those who buy the non fungible tokens a digital membership card, exclusive access to a VIP area or to a crypto community that may have different levels of membership.
We are still in the early stages of the fashion-NFT connection (that was somehow also facilitated by the Covid pandemic - lockdowns pushed many houses and designers to organise digital runways, that, in some cases, evolved into NFTs collections). But it is becoming clear that the future will not just be focused on craftsmanship and heritage. Kenzo's NFTs drop proves indeed that we are seeing a shift from luxury houses producing exclusive NFTs maybe linked with Haute Couture collections or with a super exclusive experience (see D&G), to fashion brands releasing on a regular basis limited ready-to-wear pieces accompanied by NFTs.
This development makes you wonder if fashion design students are currently learning in their courses the necessary skills to get into this new fashion market, suspended between physical and digital. It will be important indeed to teach them how to find a balance between the artisanal and the technological, understand the pros and cons of the NFT market and use this new technology in their favour (talented students who may have a tech mindset may even be able to make enough money by selling NFTs to fund their studios or fashion runways).
The last dilemmas about fashion and NFTs? Well, the first one regards Kenzo's NFTs, as we don't know yet what they will look like and what kind of exclusive access they will give to those who buy them, but it would be interesting if they would feature original sketches by Kenzo Takada as more people would discover the art behind the late designer's collections.
The second dilemma is how will the front row change - will we start seeing at fashion shows NFT collectors, crypto-commerce and blockchain experts and representatives of the crypto community who invest in digital fashion sitting there rather than just fashion influencers? Maybe. The style and tech feud between fashion houses to create the best non-fungible token is entering a new intriguing phase and, if you don't have your crypto wallets ready, get the popcorn, sit back and relax. It will be a long battle and following it will definitely be visually intriguing (though it will also be exhausting...).
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