“A tree is green. All trees are green. We have seen so many green trees that we have forgotten there are also pink trees. But if all trees were pink, I would have told you about a green tree. The world is beautiful.”
This translated poem by Kenzo Takada was written in its original French onto a fringed handkerchief-hem rugby top, set into a 19th-century-style illustration of the Place des Victoires. This is the square where Takada opened his headquarters in 1976 after bursting onto the French fashion scene as a breath of fresh air. It is also where Kenzo staged its collection presentation today as part of a broader public-facing event described at greater length in today’s Vogue Business interview with its new CEO, Charlotte Coupé. The building chosen for the presentation was wrapped in flowers; many of them, naturally enough, were pinkish.
At the walkthrough this morning, Coupé noted that Place des Victoires was once full of ribbon shops, and that Takada used ribbons from one of them, Julien Faure, in his collections. For spring 2027, Kenzo worked again with the historic specialist on grosgrain preppy stripes that appeared as belt-like bows, trims, panels, and vertical bands. On a long black, yellow, and blue striped coat with a gothic K patch, a navy peacoat cinched by an oversized bow, and cardigan collars tied with skinny ribbons, they tied the collection’s prep-school archetypes back to both location and to Takada’s own history of design.
Another translation of that reconnection came through the new green-tree camouflage, in which one solitary tree was picked out in sakura pink. It appeared on a workwear jacket and carpenter shorts, a sweatshirt, Henley shirting, and more. Elsewhere, archival florals were translated into ribbon mini dresses with scalloped leather capelets. More florals were printed on long diagonally ruffled skirts in cotton jersey or poplin. A reworked crest from Nigo’s first Rue Vivienne collection was stitched into chore jackets and sometimes lace-collared rugby shirts. Silky floral skirts were cut against lace sections. There was a new iteration of the house’s ongoing collaboration with Converse, and a new collab with Paraboot, another brand with historical ties to Takada himself. This collection saw Nigo configure a fresh way to tie the past and present of Kenzo together in order to serve the future.
