{"id":24738,"date":"2016-10-25T15:17:59","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T12:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moiostrov.com\/?p=24738"},"modified":"2018-04-23T09:50:36","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T06:50:36","slug":"hm-kenzo-launching-november-3rd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moiostrov.com\/en\/hm-kenzo-launching-november-3rd\/","title":{"rendered":"H&M + Kenzo launching November 3rd"},"content":{"rendered":"

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]<\/p>\n

H&M will team up with Parisian fashion house Kenzo for this year\u2019s designer collaboration. Find out what Creative Directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon have to say about Kenzo x H&M.<\/h3>\n
\n

Back in May H&M announced that the next designer collaboration after the very\u00a0successful\u00a0#HMBalmaination campaign\u00a0will be H&M x Kenzo. The launch date is coming up now on November 3rd.<\/p>\n

The collection will feature clothes and accessories for both men and women.<\/p>\n

Here is what\u00a0Creative Directors Humberto Leon and Carol Lim\u00a0has to say about the collaboration in an interview with H&M Magazine.<\/p>\n

WHEN H&M CAME TO YOU WITH THIS IDEA, HOW DID YOU REACT?
\nCarol Lim: \u201dWe were really excited. Obviously, we\u2019re the latest in a line of a lot of incredible people. We were like, \u2018We\u2019re in great company!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

WERE YOU NERVOUS?
\nHumberto Leon: \u201dNo. We trust ourselves. And we trust each other. You know, I say, \u201cWhat about this?\u201d And Carol is like, \u2018Well, what if we did it this way?\u2019 It\u2019s us, feeding off of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol Lim: \u201dI can really say we don\u2019t get nervous anymore. We get excited\u2014to start thinking, to start planning, to start asking ourselves, \u2018Okay, so what do we want to talk about this time?\u2019 What it comes down to is figuring out, okay, what message do we want to send with this collection?\u201d<\/p>\n

AND WHAT DID YOU DECIDE?
\nHumberto Leon: \u201dWe wanted to really tell the story of the brand and of us. Together with H&M, we will invite all the customers and fans to the real Kenzo world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

We wanted to really tell the story of the brand and of us.
\nHumberto Leon, Creative Director, Kenzo<\/center><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n

When pressed, even exuberant maximalists Humberto Leon and Carol Lim can pare down what drives them. Lim swears\u2014it\u2019s very simple. It\u2019s what inspired them to launch global fashion emporium Opening Ceremony in 2002. It\u2019s what spurred them to embrace new opportunities at KENZO, taking over the storied French fashion house in 2011. It\u2019s the reason, Lim explains, that she and Leon said, \u201c\u2018Yes,\u2019 right away, \u2018Yes\u2019\u201d to the chance to launch an H&M collaboration.
\n\u201cOur philosophy is this,\u201d Lim says. \u201cWe\u2019re curious.\u201d It\u2019s a shared impulse\u2014a fascination with newness, a reverence for tradition\u2014that has united them from the start. Both students at the University of California, Berkeley, the two obsessed over clothes and food and art and music. \u201cEven at the time, we were always trying to get to the bottom of what we loved\u2014whether it was our favourite band or some dish we liked,\u201d Lim remembers. \u201cWe care a lot and still care a lot about what is authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon and Lim wrapped up at school and moved to New York within six months of each other, working in fashion but not yet where they wanted to be in the business. \u201cSo, we took a trip to Hong Kong to visit in fact the friend who had introduced us in the first place,\u201d Lim says. They fell for the pulse of the metropolis\u2014a buzz that reminded them of New York. The place to them seemed to be full of people who \u201cwere just creating and putting themselves out there,\u201d Lim says. \u201cIt felt like a very bubbling time in New York and in Hong Kong.\u201d And Leon and Lim wanted in. By the time they landed in New York, the idea for Opening Ceremony had taken root. And what was once a downtown concept shop and cool-kid hang out has since evolved into a beloved multi-national tribe.<\/p>\n

Kenzo noticed. Five years ago, executives in Paris tapped Leon and Lim to helm the atelier. The duo has pioneered their own idea of fashion ever since. Leon and Lim revel in the intrepid. They believe in the idiosyncratic. And while some may once have wondered what moved them to embroider a tiger face onto a sweatshirt and send it down a runway, no one is puzzled anymore. Four years later, the sweatshirt is itself a fashion icon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Kenzo really created a new way for women to dress.
\nCarol Lim, Creative Director, Kenzo<\/center><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Leon and Lim still like to think of themselves as outsiders, especially in France and at least because it\u2019s a stance that befits the brand. Kenzo Takada stormed Paris in 1970 to launch the label. He, too, Lim stresses, was once a fresh face on the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the first Asian designer to come into Paris and design for women,\u201d Lim says. \u201cKenzo really created a new way for women to dress.\u201d His clothes bloomed with colour. They were explosive. They made, Leon adds, an impression. More even than his exact silhouettes or patterns, it\u2019s that spirit of enthusiasm that Leon and Lim have carried over into their own collections for Kenzo. \u201cAt the end of the day, the product has to be amazing and people have to want to buy it and wear it\u2014not just for the story, but for how it looks on,\u201d Leon says. \u201cPeople nowadays have so many options for what they want to wear and how they want to express themselves and that\u2019s great. It just means we have to be that much more attentive and to continue to makes clothes that people can get excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ann-Sofie Johansson, Creative Advisor at H&M, has no doubt they\u2019ll pull it off. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait to share with everyone the world of Kenzo x H&M with all of its creativity, fun and love of fashion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The future\u2014it looks bright.<\/p>\n

AT H&M AND AT KENZO, WHAT DEFINES A COMPLETE COLLECTION? HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU\u2019VE NAILED IT?
\nHumberto Leon: \u201dWe like to make sure each piece [in the collection] has its own value and feels special, but at the same time that the collection as a whole feels really united. That means people should be as excited to own a t-shirt as they are to own a dress. Each piece should feel deliberate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol Lim: \u201dYes, and, overall, it\u2019s always about realising strengths and weaknesses. We know what we\u2019re good at and what we can bring. We know what the team at Kenzo is good at and what they can do. We try to give everyone that space to be creative. And then it becomes about letting there be a dialogue between those perspectives. Sometimes, it\u2019s really easy. And sometimes, it\u2019s hard because there are multiple points of view involved. But that\u2019s good! Ultimately, you work it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHO\u2019S YOUR DREAM CUSTOMER FOR THE COLLECTION?
\nCarol Lim: \u201dI think a dream customer is a new customer. We don\u2019t have one girl in mind. And we never have. The more people that discover the brand and come to love the rich history behind the brand and what we\u2019ve created\u2014to us, that\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

We can\u2019t wait to share with everyone the world of Kenzo x H&M.
\nAnn-Sofie Johansson, Creative Advisor, H&M<\/center><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n

YOU\u2019VE WORKED TOGETHER FOR ALMOST 15 YEARS NOW AND FIVE YEARS AT KENZO. HOW HAVE YOUR INDIVIDUAL ROLES EVOLVED OVER TIME?
\nHumberto Leon: \u201dFunnily, we started out with our own separate roles, but I think over time we\u2019ve sort of merged our responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol Lim: \u201dIt\u2019s like when you play that video game, Galaga. Two spaceships can join together and become a bigger and more powerful spaceship. That\u2019s us!\u201d<\/p>\n

AT THE END OF THE DAY, HOW DO YOU FORCE YOURSELVES TO UNWIND?
\nCarol Lim: \u201dHumberto has twin girls and I have two young kids myself, so at the end of the day, we\u2019re feeding, washing, and reading kids\u2019 stories, which I secretly love. That feels like a really lucky end to the day. But it often doesn\u2019t end at that point, because we pick up where we left off at work. Still, that break and that time with our families is really, really precious to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dEven if it\u2019s not traditionally relaxing, It\u2019s a nice way to unwind. Or, it\u2019s at least a different kind of labour than what we do during the day. The truth is, because Humberto and I have been friends for so many years, our work and all the projects that we do\u2014we really have fun. We have a lot of fun. We\u2019ve always said that when it isn\u2019t fun anymore or we don\u2019t see that we can contribute in a way that feels real and authentic and exciting anymore, we\u2019ll do something else. But for now and for as far into the future as I can see, we love what we do. It\u2019s just who we are as people. We like to do a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

WORSHIPPERS OF COLOUR THAT YOU ARE, IS THERE ANY SHADE YOU SECRETLY HATE?
\nHumberto Leon: \u201dNo way. We love them all. It\u2019s just a matter of when the best moment is to release it into the world. All of them\u2014their time will come.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

KENZO<\/b><\/p>\n

1939 Kenzo Takada is born in Himeji, Japan
\n1964 Kenzo Takada moves to Paris
\n1972 Kenzo holds his first fashion show in Paris
\n1983 Kenzo introduces menswear
\n1988 Kenzo launches his first perfume for women
\n1999 Kenzo Takada presents his final show
\n2003 Antonio Marras is hired as Artistic Director
\n2011 Carol Lim and Humberto Leon are appointed Artistic Directors
\n2016 On November 3, Kenzo x H&M launches worldwide<\/p>\n

\"kenzo-and-h-and-m-collaboration\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kenzo x H&M 2016 (Behind the Scenes)<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n