There is a particular kind of confidence in returning somewhere you already belong. That is what Kenzo did this week, when Nigo staged the Spring 2027 collection at Place des Victoires – the same circular square in the first arrondissement where founder Kenzo Takada planted his flag in 1976. The timing feels right. This year marks roughly half a century since Takada opened his three-thousand-square-meter headquarters at No. 3, and Nigo is not letting the anniversary pass quietly.
The presentation itself was not a runway show. The collection was displayed on mannequins in a temporary space overlooking the square, which, depending on your point of view, either felt appropriately understated or like a missed opportunity to go bigger. The square itself has been taken over until June 28th by what the house is calling “La Fête de Kenzo“ – a retail pop-up, florist, café, and Konbini-inspired market open to the public. You can get a matcha, flip through a magazine Nigo himself curated, or leave with a bouquet. The spirit is generous, unpretentious, and very much of a piece with the house’s personality under his direction.
What Nigo is doing at Kenzo is less about reinvention than excavation. He goes into the archive and comes back with things that feel alive again. For Spring 2027, the central thread is the ribbon. The square and its surroundings were once full of haberdashery shops, and this fed Takada’s habit of collecting ribbons, which found their way into his collections as surely as floral prints did. Nigo worked with the historic ribbon specialist Julien Faure on grosgrain preppy stripes that appeared as belt-like bows, trims, panels, and vertical bands. On a long striped coat in black, yellow, and blue, or a navy peacoat cinched by an oversized bow, the ribbons do exactly what you want from an archival reference – they feel inevitable rather than nostalgic.
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The preppy vocabulary is something Nigo has been building since his first season, and by now he owns it. Varsity jackets, chore jackets in small florals or bonsai-tree camouflage, rugby shirts with collegiate insignia, and double-knee pants all reappear – but the proportions are sharper this time, and the surface work carries more poetry. The bonsai motif comes from one of Takada’s poems, in which a single pink tree stands out among green ones. It appears through prints and embroideries as a symbol of individuality. That is a genuinely elegant idea, and Nigo wears it lightly across workwear jackets, sweatshirts, and Henley shirting.
The collection reads as more romantic than previous seasons. There are archival florals translated into ribbon mini dresses with scalloped leather capelets, and floral patterns printed on long diagonally ruffled skirts in cotton jersey or poplin. There was even the kind of ruffled, bias-cut dress you might expect to see on Avenue Montaigne. The softness does not undermine the men’s wardrobe; if anything, it opens it up. A silk-accented rugby shirt feels entirely plausible for a man who knows how to dress well and does not need to announce it.
Footwear, as ever with Nigo, is worth lingering on. Kenzo worked with Converse on new versions of the Chuck 70 and the low-top Jack Purcell, using varsity codes, florals, and the bonsai motif. More interesting, perhaps, is the first collaboration with Paraboot. Kenzo updated the classic moc-toe shoe with D-rings for lacing and varsity lettering – a very Nigo move, precise and considered, the kind of detail that rewards the person who looks closely.
Nigo also drew inspiration from 1970s figures such as Miles Davis, bringing pointed collars and dandy tailoring into focus without turning the collection into a direct revival. That balance, honoring a past without becoming a museum exhibit, is where the collection succeeds most convincingly. What Nigo understands, and what Kenzo Spring 2027 demonstrates clearly, is that heritage only matters when it has something to say about the present.
