Kenzo Takada

Oliviero Toscani and Dominique Issermann

HAVING HIS CAKE:

Kenzo Takada really knows how to party. There were hundreds of guests, red flowers, butterflies and even elephants at the Pré Catelan in the Bois de Boulogne outside Paris on Thursday night at the bash to celebrate the Japanese designer’s 50 years in Paris.

“I wanted to mark the occasion. In the beginning, I wanted a small dinner with a dozen people. It became bigger,” Takada told WWD. “Paris brought me a lot. My life started in Paris.”

The designer, who’s no longer owner of the eponymous brand since 1993, had a giant Eiffel Tower cake adorned with a red flower and festooned with “Arigato Paris.”

It was the big reunion with fellow designers and friends including Chantal Thomass and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who did a collection with him in the Seventies.

Other designers included Barbara Bui, Irié, Bruno Frisoni, Isabel Marant, Jérôme Dreyfuss and Julien Fournié, who interned for Takada. Photographers Oliviero Toscani, Dominique Issermann and muse Marpessa Hennink were also there.

“My mother was wearing Kenzo. These were my favorite pieces I would steal from her,” said Marant. “Later on, I met with him. I love him for his generosity. He was throwing fabulous parties. This one is still quiet compared to the bashes of the days.”

The designer is marking 20 years in business next year.

“I wasn’t expecting such a big party. I will cancel my yoga class at 8 a.m. tomorrow,” said Marant’s husband Dreyfuss. The accessories designer is set to open a store in London next month and in the Marais neighborhood of Paris in two weeks.

“Kenzo had a magnificent house in Bastille, with a pool and a Japanese garden where he hosted magnificent parties. People would end up in the pool,” Thomass mused. The lingerie designer has designed a collection of bottles for Saint-Gobain to be presented at Luxe Pack Monaco.

Irié, who was Takada’s assistant for 10 years, recalled the grandiose Kenzo shows. “Jerry Hall, Grace Jones and Inès de la Fressange walked the runway. It was a golden age,” he said. “I was fortunate [to work with him]. He likes nature.”

“He’s charming and joyful. He’s the first to bring exotism in a different way to the Western world. You could wear Kenzo without having the feeling of wearing a piece that you bought during a travel. I was buying at Kenzo when I arrived in Paris in the Eighties. Place des Victoires was the place to be,” said Frisoni, dressed in Dries Van Noten.

He hinted at the Roger Vivier collection he’ll present during Paris Fashion Week at the Maison d’Amérique Latine on Oct. 5. “It is very Seventies–inspired, flowery, relaxed.”

“He’s two years older than me, but we were born the same day so we often celebrated together,” said Toscani. “A legendary party was at Le Terminus restaurant, facing Gare du Nord.” The Italian fashion photographer has a Rizzoli book retracing 50 years of photographs set for release next month. It will be presented at  Paris book store La Hune in the end of October. Toscani is off to Italy next week to shoot a book for Louis Vuitton on Matera.

Takada got snowed under gifts by friends including a Chanel watch sent by Karl Lagerfeld.

22.09.2015

Source:  wwd.com