Chairman and CEO of the LVMH Fashion Group Sidney Toledano, has announced the appointment of streetwear veteran Nigo as Artistic Director of Maison Kenzo. Nigo is the first Japanese designer to helm Kenzo since its founder, Kenzo Takada. Best known as the founder of streetwear brand A Bathing Ape, will join the brand on September 20th and will unveil his debut collection in 2022.
“I am proud to have been appointed Artistic Director of Kenzo. I was born in the year that Takada Kenzo san opened his first store in Paris. We both graduated from the same fashion school in Tokyo. In 1993, the year that Kenzo joined the LVMH Group, I started my career in Fashion. Kenzo san’s approach to creating originality was through his understanding of many different cultures. It is also the essence of my own philosophy of creativity. Inheriting the spirit of Kenzo san’s craftsmanship to create a new Kenzo is the greatest challenge of my 30-year career, which I intend to achieve together with the team. Finally, I would like to thank Bernard Arnault and Sidney Toledano for giving me this wonderful opportunity”, says Nigo.
Nigo started his first independent clothing label in Tokyo in 1993 and went on to change the landscape of global street culture. Working simultaneously in the worlds of fashion and music, with acute sensitivity to detail and through frequent collaboration with some of the best known companies and creative individuals in the world, he has innovated new ways for fashion to relate to its audience that have since become industry standards. In 2020, he produced a magnificent capsule with Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton.
“I am very happy to welcome Nigo as the Artistic Director of the Maison Kenzo. The arrival of an extremely talented Japanese designer will allow us to write a new page in the history of the House that Takada Kenzo founded. I am convinced that the creativity and innovation of Nigo as well as his attachment to the history of the House will fully express all the potential of Kenzo”, says Sidney Toledano, Chairman and CEO of the LVMH Fashion Group.
