KENZO Returns to Its Origin: FW26 Collection at Kenzo Takada’s Home

In Paris’s Bastille district, within the private residence once inhabited by Kenzo Takada, KENZO unveiled its Fall/Winter 2026 collection. Rather than a conventional runway, the house chose a deeply personal setting—one where the brand’s founder lived and created—turning the presentation into a quiet meditation on origin, memory, and continuity.

For NIGO, Artistic Director of KENZO, the choice of location was neither symbolic nor nostalgic alone. It was a deliberate return to the place where KENZO’s philosophy—free, multicultural, and instinctively human—was once shaped through everyday life.

“Homecoming” as a Concept

At the core of the collection lies the idea of homecoming. Not as a sentimental gesture, but as a way of reassessing the present through the lens of the past. NIGO revisits the creative spirit Kenzo Takada embodied—an openness to cultures, silhouettes, and ways of living—and reframes it within today’s context.

Each room of the house became part of the narrative. Garments were encountered as if they belonged there, dissolving the boundary between clothing and living space. The presentation suggested that fashion is not an isolated statement, but something inseparable from how one inhabits the world.

A Wardrobe Where Cultures Intersect

The collection brings together references that have long defined KENZO: American workwear, tailored European silhouettes, and structures reminiscent of traditional Japanese garments. These elements coexist not as contrasts, but as layers—assembled with ease and clarity.

Archive motifs, including the house’s iconic tiger and historic accessories, reappear through contemporary materials and proportions. Rather than leaning on nostalgia, they function as living symbols, reactivated for the present moment. Bold patterns and embroidery remain, yet the overall tone feels grounded—designed not to dominate, but to live with the wearer.

Fashion as Spatial Experience

What set this presentation apart was its understanding of fashion as an experience shaped by space. The warmth of wood, the softness of natural light, and the quiet rhythm of the residence itself all contributed to the narrative. The house was not a backdrop, but a collaborator—guiding how each piece was perceived.

By stepping away from the traditional runway format, KENZO proposed a slower, more intimate way of engaging with fashion—one that values reflection over immediacy, and meaning over spectacle.

From Origin to the Next Chapter

Presenting the Fall/Winter 2026 collection in Kenzo Takada’s former home was more than a tribute. It was a statement of direction. KENZO looks back not to remain there, but to move forward with clarity—carrying its founding spirit into a new era.

Between memory and modernity, individuality and global vision, the collection quietly affirmed that KENZO’s next chapter has already begun—rooted in where it started, yet unmistakably of the present.