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Kenzo capsule collection to honor year of the monkey

By Kristopher Fraser

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Fashion

New York - Kenzo has now found their next animal inspiration: monkeys. The luxury French fashion house founded by Kenzo Takada in 1970, has announced the inspiration for their next collection will be inspired by the year of the monkey.

In the Chinese zodiac, 2016 marks the year of the monkey. The zodiac is comprised of twelve animals, including the monkey, the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the rooster, the dog, and the pig.

The capsule collection of sweaters and t-shirts will go on sale beginning January 15 at Kenzo boutiques, kenzo.com, and select retail partner stores. Price points for the black sweatshirts in the collection range from 260 dollars to 430 dollars. The design features the brand's signature tiger, eye, and multi-icon motifs in red and gold designed to be inspired by the Chinese Lunar New Year which begins on February 8. The t-shirts in the collection are at a price point of 110 dollars.

Kenzo unveils Chinese Lunar New Year capsule collection

In 2011, when creative directors Humberto Leon and Carol Lim took over the label, they began to completely transform the aesthetic of the brand. Under their leadership, the fashion house began including exotic prints and a new third eye motif in the designs.

The Kenzo brand had long been a stagnant luxury brand until the duo came along. It was their sweatshirts that truly helped to put the brand on the map, especially with the millennial generation. Once their sweatshirts were made popular by celebrities like Katy Perry, the brand became a must-have label and a household name.

The brand had actually never done sweatshirts before, but when Leon and Lim's first round of sweatshirts arrived at New York's Opening Ceremony store they sold out within two days. At the time, around 2000 sweatshirts had been produced with the intention of being on the racks through the holiday season, but they didn't even make it to Thanksgiving. When the sweatshirts arrived for sale at their Paris boutique in October, they sold out within three hours.

In 1993, Kenzo was sold to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. This put Kenzo under the global luxury conglomerate company that also owns Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy. The company had hoped to find creative directors that would help turn the brand into a global fashion force, and that's what they got with Leon and Lim.

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