Paris fashion house Kenzo has partnered with California skate brand Vans for Spring-Summer 2020 in a new footwear collection.
In addition to sneakers, the two worlds and cultures come together in an exclusive capsule collection that fuses what the pair call “the bucolic ethos of the Paris maison with the legendary American brand’s sneaker design.”
Kenzo is focused on floral for summer, embodied by the new collaboration with Vans, a key brand of global skateboarding culture. Kenzo delved into its archives to unearth the floral prints that wrap the California brand’s legendary sneakers. Both the Sk8-Hi high-top sneaker and the Old-Skool low-top from the Vault by Vans line have been revisited in three floral prints for men and women.
The launch campaign features raw photography from Ari Marcopoulos to capture the world of seven real skaters and friends in Los Angeles, providing intimate insight into their everyday lives.
Expanding on the skate inspiration, Kenzo creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista created a capsule collection of apparel and accessories to accompany the sneaker range. Floral prints are the “unifying thread” of the creations, Kenzo said, with unisex themes in a collection of 46 ready-to-wear pieces and a range of sunhats, caps, bumbags and backpacks.
To complement the collection, an exclusive Kenzo skateboard is being released, designed in collaboration with The Skateroom, a project that makes skateboards with artists to support social impact causes. Limited to 150 pieces, the Kenzo skateboard features the floral print theme of the sneakers and is available in Kenzo stores and on kenzo.com. All of the profits will be donated to a social skate project to empower at-risk youth in Jamaica, the company said.
For half a century, Kenzo has been infusing positive energy and contagious freedom by claiming a polychrome, daring and borderless fashion that celebrates nature and cultural diversity.
Founded in Paris in 1970 by Kenzo Takada, the company continues to cultivate and reinterpret with modernity the styles and looks for which it is known–a mix of prints, the harmony of refined colors and a creativity imbued with optimism and impertinence.
Under Baptista, who was named creative director a year ago, Kenzo has shown a new dynamic driven by a creative vision combining aesthetic requirement and functionality, defining a new chapter in the history of the brand, while respecting its unique heritage, the company said.