in 2019, “I was once told that it was impossible for a Japanese man to work in the fashion industry in Paris … Men weren’t allowed into design schools. Being creative was not accepted in Japanese society in the 1950s. And more than anything, my parents opposed the idea of me working in fashion.”
His first fashion house was controversially named “Jungle Jap” and was formed after his flat was levelled to make way for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, the compensation allowed him to travel to Paris. After first selling sketches to other designers, he launched his first Paris boutique, later rebranding the fashion label as Kenzo in New York in 1976.
As the house grew and grew Kenzo launched a men’s collection in 1983 followed by a fragrance line in 1988. Kenzo sold the business to LVMH in 1993 following shifts in the industry, and the death of his partner Xavier de Castella in 1990, “I decided to sell the company for various reasons . . . It was becoming more commercial. Fashion was changing, the pace was changing,” he told the FT, staying on as designer but stepping away amicably in 1999.