Fashion house KENZO unveiled its Fall Winter 2026 Collection on Wednesday, January 21st, 2026, during Paris Fashion Week. DSCENE Magazine offers an exclusive backstage view captured by fashion photographer Sohom Das, revealing the setting chosen by creative director Nigo.
BACKSTAGE
For Fall Winter 2026, Nigo staged the collection inside Kenzo Takada’s former residence in Paris’s Bastille neighborhood. Built between 1988 and 1993, the wooden house sits among bamboo, juniper, cherry trees, and a koi carp pond. Takada conceived the space as an “oasis home,” drawing inspiration from his father’s tea house in Himeji, Hyōgo Province, Japan. He used the residence for rest, meditation, and gatherings that later entered fashion history.
Nigo approaches Kenzo as a house shaped by freedom, color, and joy, translating those ideas directly through the clothes. Fall Winter 2026 reads as a return to the beginning and as a personal homage to Kenzo Takada, grounded in design language rather than nostalgia.
The collection continues the exchange between French and Japanese aesthetics established when Takada arrived in Paris in 1965. Nigo layers additional references across the wardrobe. Americana appears through varsity graphics and cowboy shirts, Italian tailoring shapes structure, and Chinese pankou closures add surface detail. Home emerges as a wearable idea shaped through clothing.
Kimono-based construction informs tailored suits, where kimono and peak lapels appear together in revised forms. Cowboy shirts feature floral embroidery and contrasting piping, shifting familiar workwear references into a more refined register.
The tiger motif from the 1980s Kenzo Jungle era returns on shirts, while the archival letter “K” appears across jerseys, jackets, and cardigans. Spring Summer 1994 embroidered organza skirts serve as a further reference, with floral embroidery extending across garments and footwear.
Two-tone tailoring revisits 1990s silhouettes previously explored during Nigo’s Fall Winter 2022 debut. Deep navy contrasts with Prince of Wales wool, while bi-color and tri-color stripes appear alongside checkerboard knits.
Military forms feature refined button detailing, Japanese selvedge denim appears across multiple looks with a sun-worn finish, and the Kenzogram recurs across denim, nylon, jersey, knitwear, and belts.
Lace-up work boots with steel toe cap detailing appear alongside embroidered ballet flats, loafers, and a new flat lace-up shoe combining ballerina and derby elements. The 1986 Kite bag returns as an exact replica, followed by updated colorblock leather versions and reversible canvas totes.
Together, the setting and the collection reinforce Nigo’s ongoing dialogue with the house’s history while presenting Fall Winter 2026 as a continuation shaped by place, memory, and design.
