Questions for Takada
Takada Kenzō (高田賢三) is the world’s most famous Japanese fashion designer. He was born in Himeji and he attended the Bunka Fashion College of Shinjuku in Tokyo (文化服装学院, Bunka Fukuso Gakuin) from which many well-known Japanese fashion 
designers graduated. He moved to Paris in the mid-1960s and he made a success in the 1970s, his golden decade.
Kenzo style is unique. Flower is the recurring pattern of his art, dresses, shoes, fashion accessories and perfumes. Kenzo style is rich, abundant, almost “baroque” nevertheless it is never excessive, overabundant and fulsome. It is very different from the minimal art of some other Japanese fashion designers. Kenzo style has been influenced by western fashion of 1960s and 1970s – above all by hippie fashion which he made elegant and easy-fitting to evening dress – but lots of reminiscence of Japanese decorative art are also perceptible in his works.
Kenzo loves to surprise not by provocation but rather by charm and elegance for example when at the end of 1970s he set his fashion shows in a circus tent with horsewomen wearing transparent dresses and himself on elephant back. Kenzo has the sense of performance and theatre however he lives secluded and far from the spotlights.
These are the questions we would like ask him.
designers graduated. He moved to Paris in the mid-1960s and he made a success in the 1970s, his golden decade.Kenzo style is unique. Flower is the recurring pattern of his art, dresses, shoes, fashion accessories and perfumes. Kenzo style is rich, abundant, almost “baroque” nevertheless it is never excessive, overabundant and fulsome. It is very different from the minimal art of some other Japanese fashion designers. Kenzo style has been influenced by western fashion of 1960s and 1970s – above all by hippie fashion which he made elegant and easy-fitting to evening dress – but lots of reminiscence of Japanese decorative art are also perceptible in his works.
Kenzo loves to surprise not by provocation but rather by charm and elegance for example when at the end of 1970s he set his fashion shows in a circus tent with horsewomen wearing transparent dresses and himself on elephant back. Kenzo has the sense of performance and theatre however he lives secluded and far from the spotlights.
These are the questions we would like ask him.
1) How and when did Your first experiences in fashion begin?
2) Your parents didn't agree with You when You left the University of Kobe to go to Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. How did You feel in that occasion?
3) You have been called the most Parisian of the Japanese. What did the change from Japan to France mean in Your personal and artistic life?
4) Your style is always innovative and original. Have You ever been influenced by some others fashion masters in Your works?
5) Your first boutique Jungle Jap opened in Paris in 1970. The boutique name was an ironical allusion to Your Japanese origins. How important is Japanese cultural background in Your artistic creations?
6) Your eaux de toilette are very delicate and never "intrusive". They are very innovative in comparison to other fashion designers' eaux de toilette. Their names and bottle shapes always refer to natural elements like water (L'eau par Kenzo), flowers (Flower by Kenzo), plants (Kenzo pour homme bottle has the shape of a bamboo limb), seasons (Summer by Kenzo). Nature is very important in Japanese culture. In these parfums names I see a link between You and Your Japanese roots. Am I right?
7) You left the Kenzo fashion company in Your cooperators' hands when You was 60 years old, in 1999. After that, You returned to Your first loves, painting and design. Is that why You got bored of the fashion world or because You would like to dedicate more time to Yourself?
8) After Italy and France, Japan also came to fashion world and that's because of Your dresses and parfums. In these days fashion becomes more and more important in China too. What do You think about Chinese fashion request and production?
2) Your parents didn't agree with You when You left the University of Kobe to go to Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. How did You feel in that occasion?
3) You have been called the most Parisian of the Japanese. What did the change from Japan to France mean in Your personal and artistic life?
4) Your style is always innovative and original. Have You ever been influenced by some others fashion masters in Your works?
5) Your first boutique Jungle Jap opened in Paris in 1970. The boutique name was an ironical allusion to Your Japanese origins. How important is Japanese cultural background in Your artistic creations?
6) Your eaux de toilette are very delicate and never "intrusive". They are very innovative in comparison to other fashion designers' eaux de toilette. Their names and bottle shapes always refer to natural elements like water (L'eau par Kenzo), flowers (Flower by Kenzo), plants (Kenzo pour homme bottle has the shape of a bamboo limb), seasons (Summer by Kenzo). Nature is very important in Japanese culture. In these parfums names I see a link between You and Your Japanese roots. Am I right?
7) You left the Kenzo fashion company in Your cooperators' hands when You was 60 years old, in 1999. After that, You returned to Your first loves, painting and design. Is that why You got bored of the fashion world or because You would like to dedicate more time to Yourself?
8) After Italy and France, Japan also came to fashion world and that's because of Your dresses and parfums. In these days fashion becomes more and more important in China too. What do You think about Chinese fashion request and production?
Floriano Terrano
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