Kenzo A/ W 2004 Paris
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Mannikin
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This would be interesting. I hope the new designer will bring back a funner spirit of Kenzo. 
Thanks Lena.
Thanks Lena.
Here's an article from the Telegraph. What do you think?
In Paris, the return of crazy couture
(Filed: 09/03/2004)
Sardinian designer Antonio Marras is breathing new life into Japanese label Kenzo. Hilary Alexander has an exclusive preview
The energy was palpable, the colours joyous, the prints kaleidoscopic and the atmosphere electric. As a bevy of models - Dutch, Belgian, Brazilian, Belorussian, Japanese - filed in and out of the fittings at Kenzo in Paris over the weekend, slipping into jewelled tweed suits, embroidered cashmere coats, rainbow knits and vintage silk dresses, it seemed, as studio head Stephanie Murray put it, that "someone has breathed new life" into this much-loved French brand.
That someone is the Sardinian designer Antonio Marras, one of the few truly independent, creative souls of the Milan fashion scene, whose own romantic-vintage collections are often inspired by heroines of his birthplace.
It could be that Marras was born to design for Kenzo, even though he comes from a place far from the native Japan of Kenzo Takada. (Takada arrived in Paris in 1965 and his first collection in 1970 marked the start of a long love affair with the French.)
Yet the irrepressible joie de vivre of Marras's designs, his ability to entwine the ethnic, exotic and elegant, the smile that accompanies his delight in fashion as a "game without frontiers", as Ginette Sainderichin called it in her Fashion Memoir on Kenzo, is completely in tune with the Japanese designer's spirit.
What Marras has brought to the label, which has languished since Kenzo's retirement following his 30-year retrospective in October 1999, is a Mediterranean passion allied to an insistence on rigorous control and a determination that nothing, however technically baffling it may seem at first, is impossible.
At lunchtime today, Marras faces the acid test, when his first collection for Kenzo goes before an international audience of press, buyers and the all-important corporate cavalcade, including Bernard Arnault, president of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), which owns Kenzo along with brands such as Dior, Givenchy, Celine and Christian Lacroix.
Marras describes his emotions on the eve of his Paris debut as a mix of terror and excitement. "I feel unprepared," he says, something which is instantly denied by his studio team, who point to the rails of clothes, the tables laden with shoes, bags, scarves and jewellery, all complete and catwalk-ready.
"I have nightmares every night," he continues. "But, I am very excited because I feel so much enthusiasm from my team. Everything I have asked them to do they have succeeded in doing."
Marras is particularly thrilled with the input from his knitwear specialist, Caroline Randolf, a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, and
Anne Rubaek, the Dane who has co-ordinated his fabrics, many being modernised or re-coloured versions of vintage prints from the archive of the established Milan firm, Cuccirelli.
Marras was first approached in April last year, by Concetta Lanciaux,
LVMH's chief head-hunter for new talent. They obviously clicked. A meeting initially planned for half an hour went on for six.
"She knew my work because she had seen my autumn/winter 2002/03 show," he says. Even so, when, three months later, Lanciaux telephoned to offer him the Kenzo job, Marras was taken by surprise.
"I said, `I'm an Italian, from Sardinia, and you want me to come to Paris to design for a Japanese brand. It seems a bit strange.' She just said: `I'm crazy, you're crazy. We'll go well together'."
Antonio Marras with the model Hannelore during fittings before the show
Marras, who, apart from designing his own label, also designs for the Italian young line Trend les Copains, is well aware of the difficult times these days for creatives hired to inject a new personality into a flagging brand.
Within the LVMH group alone, Celine is without a designer since the departure of the American Michael Kors, and Julien Macdonald's future at Givenchy is still undecided - both difficult houses to steer, it must be said.
Then there is the upheaval at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, with the departure of Tom Ford, coupled with the belief of Serge Weinberg - the CEO of PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute), majority owner of both labels - that a brand is more important than a designer. Marras disagrees. "The role of a designer is fundamental. Kenzo tried to do without and seemed to lose its identity.
"When you are a brand, born as a brand, such as MaxMara, for example, it is different. But the designer gives his soul to a label, he provides the overall vision, the reference point which steers the team of people working. Only a designer can create that energy."
Marras says two considerations guided him to take the job. "First, I instinctively knew I could continue my own label with retro-romance and nostalgia, while I could pour my joy and colour into Kenzo. Then, there was the prestige of working with LVMH. Of course, I knew it could change my life. But of all their labels, Kenzo is the closest to me and I know I can do what I want. I have been given carte blanche."
Murray agrees. "When his first set of sketches arrived in October, I was flabbergasted. They were brilliant.
We were dumbstruck. Everyone said `yes!' Then came a book with his technical drawings, fabric swatches, embroidery, buttons. That alone was a work of art. It's like somebody has re-invented the house and brought Kenzo back to life. It's Kenzo, but it's also Antonio. It's crazy couture which is needed right now."
Two further examples of serendipity point to Kenzo being part of Marras's destiny. The original inspiration for his autumn/winter 2002/03 collection, which first brought him to the attention of LVMH was, extraordinarily, a 1982 photograph of Sayoko, Kenzo Takada's favourite model and a star of the Seventies' catwalks, wearing the designer's Russian-doll bridal designs.
Today, Sayoko has agreed to return to the catwalk, after an absence of many years, especially for Marras's Paris debut at Kenzo.
The first Antonio Marras collection for Kenzo, autumn/winter 2004/05, will be available from July in Kenzo Boutique, Sloane Street, London SW1; tel: 020 7493 8448
In Paris, the return of crazy couture
(Filed: 09/03/2004)
Sardinian designer Antonio Marras is breathing new life into Japanese label Kenzo. Hilary Alexander has an exclusive preview
The energy was palpable, the colours joyous, the prints kaleidoscopic and the atmosphere electric. As a bevy of models - Dutch, Belgian, Brazilian, Belorussian, Japanese - filed in and out of the fittings at Kenzo in Paris over the weekend, slipping into jewelled tweed suits, embroidered cashmere coats, rainbow knits and vintage silk dresses, it seemed, as studio head Stephanie Murray put it, that "someone has breathed new life" into this much-loved French brand.
That someone is the Sardinian designer Antonio Marras, one of the few truly independent, creative souls of the Milan fashion scene, whose own romantic-vintage collections are often inspired by heroines of his birthplace.
It could be that Marras was born to design for Kenzo, even though he comes from a place far from the native Japan of Kenzo Takada. (Takada arrived in Paris in 1965 and his first collection in 1970 marked the start of a long love affair with the French.)
Yet the irrepressible joie de vivre of Marras's designs, his ability to entwine the ethnic, exotic and elegant, the smile that accompanies his delight in fashion as a "game without frontiers", as Ginette Sainderichin called it in her Fashion Memoir on Kenzo, is completely in tune with the Japanese designer's spirit.
What Marras has brought to the label, which has languished since Kenzo's retirement following his 30-year retrospective in October 1999, is a Mediterranean passion allied to an insistence on rigorous control and a determination that nothing, however technically baffling it may seem at first, is impossible.
At lunchtime today, Marras faces the acid test, when his first collection for Kenzo goes before an international audience of press, buyers and the all-important corporate cavalcade, including Bernard Arnault, president of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), which owns Kenzo along with brands such as Dior, Givenchy, Celine and Christian Lacroix.
Marras describes his emotions on the eve of his Paris debut as a mix of terror and excitement. "I feel unprepared," he says, something which is instantly denied by his studio team, who point to the rails of clothes, the tables laden with shoes, bags, scarves and jewellery, all complete and catwalk-ready.
"I have nightmares every night," he continues. "But, I am very excited because I feel so much enthusiasm from my team. Everything I have asked them to do they have succeeded in doing."
Marras is particularly thrilled with the input from his knitwear specialist, Caroline Randolf, a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, and
Anne Rubaek, the Dane who has co-ordinated his fabrics, many being modernised or re-coloured versions of vintage prints from the archive of the established Milan firm, Cuccirelli.
Marras was first approached in April last year, by Concetta Lanciaux,
LVMH's chief head-hunter for new talent. They obviously clicked. A meeting initially planned for half an hour went on for six.
"She knew my work because she had seen my autumn/winter 2002/03 show," he says. Even so, when, three months later, Lanciaux telephoned to offer him the Kenzo job, Marras was taken by surprise.
"I said, `I'm an Italian, from Sardinia, and you want me to come to Paris to design for a Japanese brand. It seems a bit strange.' She just said: `I'm crazy, you're crazy. We'll go well together'."
Antonio Marras with the model Hannelore during fittings before the show
Marras, who, apart from designing his own label, also designs for the Italian young line Trend les Copains, is well aware of the difficult times these days for creatives hired to inject a new personality into a flagging brand.
Within the LVMH group alone, Celine is without a designer since the departure of the American Michael Kors, and Julien Macdonald's future at Givenchy is still undecided - both difficult houses to steer, it must be said.
Then there is the upheaval at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, with the departure of Tom Ford, coupled with the belief of Serge Weinberg - the CEO of PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute), majority owner of both labels - that a brand is more important than a designer. Marras disagrees. "The role of a designer is fundamental. Kenzo tried to do without and seemed to lose its identity.
"When you are a brand, born as a brand, such as MaxMara, for example, it is different. But the designer gives his soul to a label, he provides the overall vision, the reference point which steers the team of people working. Only a designer can create that energy."
Marras says two considerations guided him to take the job. "First, I instinctively knew I could continue my own label with retro-romance and nostalgia, while I could pour my joy and colour into Kenzo. Then, there was the prestige of working with LVMH. Of course, I knew it could change my life. But of all their labels, Kenzo is the closest to me and I know I can do what I want. I have been given carte blanche."
Murray agrees. "When his first set of sketches arrived in October, I was flabbergasted. They were brilliant.
We were dumbstruck. Everyone said `yes!' Then came a book with his technical drawings, fabric swatches, embroidery, buttons. That alone was a work of art. It's like somebody has re-invented the house and brought Kenzo back to life. It's Kenzo, but it's also Antonio. It's crazy couture which is needed right now."
Two further examples of serendipity point to Kenzo being part of Marras's destiny. The original inspiration for his autumn/winter 2002/03 collection, which first brought him to the attention of LVMH was, extraordinarily, a 1982 photograph of Sayoko, Kenzo Takada's favourite model and a star of the Seventies' catwalks, wearing the designer's Russian-doll bridal designs.
Today, Sayoko has agreed to return to the catwalk, after an absence of many years, especially for Marras's Paris debut at Kenzo.
The first Antonio Marras collection for Kenzo, autumn/winter 2004/05, will be available from July in Kenzo Boutique, Sloane Street, London SW1; tel: 020 7493 8448
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