Armed with a star-studded front row that included the likes of Kanye West, Pusha T and Pharrell Williams, Nigo’s Kenzo debut kicked off in effortless style. We aren’t surprised, though. Tucked firmly under his belt are close to three decades worth of experience working with some of the biggest names in the game across brand launches and musical collaborations alike. It would be a colossal understatement to say that the stakes were high, but we know he didn’t sweat it, a knack for uniting people all over the fashion sphere doesn’t just disappear.

And so the curtain lifted on Kenzo FW22, itself a masterful rekindling of the house’s original style codes interwoven with the forward-thinking know-how that’s kept the brand’s artistic director several leagues ahead of his contemporaries for all these years. Taking place in the very arcade where the brand’s namesake launched his first label, Jungle Jap, back in 1970, Nigo dived in headfirst with plaid poncho’s and inflated baker boy caps. Deconstructed workwear in dark Japanese denim followed suit, while playful florals – which include a Boke Flower motif – blossomed across plaid dresses and dazzling poppy-print skirts. 

Kenzō Takada’s coveted design sketches get a look in also, re-emerging from the house’s vast archive atop breezy outerwear, boxy varsity jackets and formal suiting. They spoke to a broader fusing of traditional Japanese styles with that of the West across the collection, be that in Nigo’s cropped kimono wraps, embroidered cowboy shirts or three-button jackets inspired by the punks of 80s Britain.