Kenzo's co-ed collection pays tribute to the late trailblazer Kansai Yamamoto

The world waved a solemn goodbye to one of its trailblazing designers in July this year: Kansai Yamamoto who, since the early 1970s, brought Japan to the forefront of cutting-edge, transgressive style through wild maximalism, heady prints, conceptual storytelling and his work with David Bowie.

When Kenzo’s creative director, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, took the helm last year, he called upon Yamamoto for his first collaboration: a co-ed collection featuring many of the designer's trademarks, like a fire-breathing dragon, animal prints and maxed-out shapes.

As the last project Yamamoto worked on before he passed away, and in the wake of Kenzo’s founder, Takada Kenzo’s passing last month, the collaboration has garnered new meaning for Baptisa: a touching – and timely – tribute to his influences.