Carol Lim and Humberto Leon are the toast of the fashion world for resurrecting jaded Parisian label, Kenzo. Stylist meets the incredible design duo...

There’s nothing the fashion world loves more than a drama and that’s exactly what it got when the fading fashion brand Kenzo announced its new creative directors two years ago.

Californian duo Carol Lim and Humberto Leon were celebrated as arbiters of cool in the retail world thanks to the cutting edge success of their Opening Ceremony stores and in-house label, but few had considered them as contenders capable of resuscitating the creative vision of an outdated name like Kenzo. Yet, the moment Chloë Sevigny (wearing a bright blue jumpsuit) hit the runway at the pair’s first collection for the Paris-based label last year, the positive reaction from the buyers was instant. The OTT florals synonymous with the old label were out and quirky prints, street influences and that tiger logo were in. Kenzo was back with a vengeance.

In a single day in New York, I have walked past seven Kenzo sweatshirts worn on the streets. I see Kenzo caps and merchandise everywhere. Lim and Leon have created such a feverish cult-like desirability for all things Kenzo that they’ve reignited the long mothballed trend for logos, created a new fashion icon in the Tiger sweatshirt and struggle to keep their hottest items on the shelves.

While the talented pair are intent on creating their own playful vernacular for the brand – overseeing everything from the design to the coffee cups given out at their fashion shows – they’re also highly respectful of the man who originally founded the label that shook up the stuffy French fashion scene in the Seventies. Kenzo Takada made waves in Paris with his vibrant, eclectic collections by mixing his Japanese heritage with Parisian chic and gained fans including Jerry Hall and Grace Jones before eventually retiring in 1999. Lim and Leon are looking to reclaim that verve, by using their street-led sensibility to make Kenzo relevant again. And they’re off to an impressive start.

I’ve long been a fan of the way Lim and Leon have, over 10 years, built upnot just a successful mini-empire of boutiques (there are branches of Opening Ceremony in New York, LA, Tokyo and since last October, London), but also their own line of clothing and numerous innovative collaborations which engage with pop culture. They always manage to keep things exciting and fresh and, for want of a better phrase, their “cool factor” magic wand knows no bounds. I stepped into Kenzo HQ in Paris shortly after their menswear show in June (held in a circus-training academy, of course) to talk about how they’ve turned Kenzo’s fortunes around, how fashion should be more welcoming and fun, and how those fabled sweatshirts came about.

Stylist: Apparently you beat 30 other candidates to become co-creative directors at Kenzo. Were you surprised?

Humberto Leon: We were really excited. No-one had any time to think. We literally showed our presentation and drawings of what we were going to design for Kenzo and then within two days we were hired. In our minds, we had already done so much of our own exploration of what Kenzo could be so by the time we were hired we were ready to go. We had a good idea that we wanted to celebrate Kenzo – the brand, the man and interpret it in our way.

Carol Lim: What was also interesting for them was that we not only presented our viewpoint on the collection, we presented on the whole universe. We presented a whole digital concept and what we thought the whole retail experience should have and what the other lifestyle elements should be. We touched upon every single thing in the project. They were like, “You guys get it.”

What were your impressions of Kenzo before taking the position?

C: We knew what the original Kenzo was about. We’ve been avid vintage collectors so that’s how we discovered it. We’ve always loved the brand and how it started in Paris. Up until we came, it was a sleepy brand. It wasn’t something that we thought, ‘This is where it’s happening,’ and that’s what was appealing to us.

H: We knew it was a brand that had been untouched for a while, so in our minds it was the perfect canvas to rebuild. We knew the monumental cultural and fashion significance that Kenzo had played in bringing something foreign to the Parisian market. All those things really interested us because in many ways, it felt like what we were really good at. At Opening Ceremony, the fact that we travelled every year and presented a slew of young designers from a new country meant that we had already adopted that [process] of incorporating foreign [ideas] and we could take that information andeasily apply it. Kenzo did something similar. Pre-internet, Kenzo would travel to Morocco or India and bring back those ideas to his collections. That was what he was famous for.

Were you daunted by the idea of changing an established brand?

H: The most surprising and exciting thing was how many bases Kenzo covered in his 30-year career. He covered a lot of interesting elements, which gave Carol and I free rein to go, “You know what, we can do it in our own way.”

C: For instance, it isn’t just about the flower [the predominant Kenzo motif at the time] and that was something they were stuck on.

H: We thought, ‘Let’s bring Kenzo to the modern era. Let’s talk about Kenzo in a way that seems fitting for 2012-13.’ We are in a digital era and we want what we’re doing to sit as a part of the Kenzo time capsule. Kenzo was so personal – when you look back, it was very much about him, the person. We only know how to give ourselves to the brand. Everything you see has us in it.

It’s fairly unusual that you’re so heavily involved in all areas ofthe business – the campaigns, the stores, the website. Why put yourselves through all that stress?

H: In our own business we think and look at everything. We only know how to work that way, even at a big company like Kenzo. We design the collection but we also merchandise the collection. We are involved in the commercial strategies and think about how the customer will see the collections. We want to think about the retail experience and that’s our next big challenge.

Your stores are known as being upbeat and fun. Where does that come from?

H: When Carol and I first started we had a major pow-wow over dim sum: “What is the shop that we want to build? What do we find annoying at other stores?” We listed all the things that we don’t want and all the things we do. In the end, what we wanted was a store that felt inviting for people to come in and browse and maybe not buy – but that was up to the customer. It had to be fun and it had to feel like you’d want to go there. In fashion stores there’s always a distance. They’re meant to feel uninviting.

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