WITH A CAPITAL: Japanese fashion designer Nigo, who runs his Human Made brand and serves as artistic director of Kenzo, pings between his home country and Paris.
Ditto the campaigns he does for Kenzo: His spring 2024 effort, which breaks Monday on Kenzo’s digital channels and on billboards in China, was photographed in several iconic locations in the French capital.
These include Rue Vivienne, where Kenzo is headquartered; nearby Place des Victoires, once home to its historical Paris flagship store; the Arc de Triomphe and the futuristic underground tunnel tourists traverse to reach the landmark, and the ornate Hôtel de Soyecourt, better known as the longtime residence of Karl Lagerfeld and one of the most beautiful town houses on the Left Bank of the French capital.
Models in denim looks stroll through the tunnel leading to the Arc de Triomphe.
Keizo Kitajima
Photographer Keizo Kitajima captured a diverse cast of models in these picturesque locations, while Frank Lebon filmed everyone in motion and musing about various colors.
Nigo had conscripted the same duo for Kenzo’s fall 2023 campaign, captured in his favorite spots in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan.
The spring campaign continues Nigo’s recurrent theme of building bridges between East and West. The spring 2024 collection was originally paraded on the Passerelle Debilly — the footbridge over the Seine river that connects the Palais de Tokyo and the Eiffel Tower.
WWD opined that the show “exuded more of a grown-up, Parisian sophistication this season as the designer eased up on preppy and collegiate themes.”
Kenzo said the campaign reflects the “cross-cultural chemistry at the heart” of the brand.
“Recontextualized in the campaign’s Parisian environments, the wardrobe’s Japanese silhouettes and their Western surroundings echo the code-switches intrinsic to the vision of Nigo,” it added.
A model captured in a ballroom at Hôtel de Soyecourt.
Keizo Kitajima
