Kenzo certainly knows how to put on a show. The fashion brand helmed by Humberto Leon and Carol Lim closed a highly memorable Paris Fashion Week last night by staging an event dedicated to two of their greatest muses: Ryuichi Sakamoto, the renowned musician and composer behind such films as The Last Emperor, and the model Sayoko Yamaguchi, who served as muse to the brand's creator, Takata Kenzo.
But this was no ordinary runway experience. Rather than remain confined to a line of men and women walking stoically down a catwalk, Leon and Lim decided to stage a two-act play, complete with a musical intermission, fashion acrobats kareening up and down the walls of the space, and a cast composed of entirely Asian models, a tribute to the brand's roots.
"We felt like it would be really beautiful and poetic to cast a full Asian cast and celebrate the heritage of the brand," the pair said in an Instagram post.
The first act of their play, titled 'Building the Bamboo Houses,' was a tribute to Sakamoto, while the second act, 'Love Letter to Sayoko,' was, fittingly, an homage to Yamaguchi.
The show was held at the Lycee Camille See in Paris.
"For both [Men's and Women's] collections, we aim to capture the duality of the two figures," the pair continued on Instagram. "We look to the era when our muses ruled on two distant continents: to Riyuichi's personal flair when questioning the norm, and to Sayako's ability to mix patterns, prints, silhouettes, and color."
Take a look at the space, some of the clothing, and models cascading down the walls below:
