KENZO announces the release of its Spring-Summer 2023 Women’s and Men’s Collection by Artistic Director Nigo. ‘KENZO Pixel’, the first drop launching in January 2023, highlights a strong visual expression of the designer’s teenage years during the 1970s and 80s. The Spring-Summer 2023 season, which was shown at Lycée Carnot in Paris in June 2022, is a continuation of the creative story developed within the Autumn/Winter 2022 collection.
The KENZO Pixel drop is crafted around a pixelated rose print selected from the archive. Originally developed by Kenzo Takada for a children’s collection (the brand’s founder loved flowers, which he joyfully used throughout his career), the rose as seen by Nigo today becomes a reference to the video arcade boom of the 1970s and 80s—and therefore an homage to popular culture. The pixelated rose, redrawn almost identically to the original in blue, army green, and red, is complemented by other classic motifs of the House, such as the tiger, the anchor or the heart, all of which have been reconfigured by Nigo.
The pixelated blue/grey rose is applied to a denim zip-up jacket and pants ensemble for men, while a red/brown version of the print is seen on a denim button-up hoodie and pants duo for women. Also for women, a short knitwear cardigan and skirt combo in a green/yellow pattern that mixes pixelated roses and tiger heads. For men, a jersey tracksuit in heather grey with contrasting red stripes and a pixelated rose on the pants nods to 80s streetwear. In the same spirit, mini versions of the pixelated motifs are applied to a grey polo shirt for men and a long black knitted cardigan for women, creating a Pacman-meets-Space Invaders vibe. A sweater shows a huge elephant head with “KENZO PARIS” spelt out, in off-white for women and blue for men. A series of T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies in white, grey and black feature the pixelated KENZO logo, paired with various other pixelated motifs such as tigers, roses and hearts.
Drawing on the idea of “real-to-wear”, the Spring-Summer 2023 collection is an authentic wardrobe, building on a forward-thinking approach to fashion. Nigo’s runway for KENZO creates a meeting between the Maison’s heritage and his own contemporary codes, and which looks to the future by learning from the past. Through tailoring and workwear, expressed in largely genderless silhouettes, Nigo creates a visual thesis that unites and transcends cultural and conventional dress codes.
