Kenzo x David Lynch = industrial poetry
Live Gallery
Experimental film-maker David Lynch is sometimes said to stand on LA's La Cienega boulevard playing the keyboards, just because. Designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, whose flagship Opening Ceremony shop is on that street, must have bumped into him one day, because he designed the set and soundtrack, and inspired their autumn collection for the Paris-based label Kenzo today, of which they're creative directors too.
'I wanted to try and get a different feel for a runway show,' Lynch was quoted as saying on the shownotes, 'having mystery and emotion swimming together.'
That came through as a sort of poetic industrialism in smashed glass prints and mechanical-looking abstractions of tools on strict blazers made from iridescent fabrics in black, flame red and a shade of chartreuse named 'wild Lula lime' for the heroine of Lynch's 1990 film Wild at Heart. (There was also 'Laur lilac' and 'midnight Dorothy' in the palette.)
But as well as rib knit column dresses and elegantly feminine tailoring, there was a mannish fit too, in exaggerated and integral collars on biker jackets and quilted safety suiting, and a wrapped and deconstructed take on a man's coat, which tied around the waist.
If Kenzo were a wordcloud, then 'urban' would feature prominently - previously though that vein has been interpreted with a streetwear sporty edge. For autumn, the direction felt more formal, every bit as comfortable and wardrobe-friendly, but for a tougher and more business-like heroine - doomed or not, looking fabulously strong, according to the Lynchian code behind it all.
