Are we alone? Who knows—the odds of there being extraterrestrial life are deemed unquantifiable. On planet Kenzo, though, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon are ready for first contact, whoever and whatever emerges down the landing ramp in a cloud of dry ice.
Presented in Jean Nouvel's just-opened Philharmonie de Paris (which could be from another solar system itself), this collection was young, loud, and digestibly left field—so très Kenzo. Staple bomber jackets were rethought via ribbed thumbholes and complementary paneling at the hem, or more directly with spray-colored fur at the collar. Thick stitching wound around mixed-material panels or slashed straight through leather-strip chunky boots. Nylon suits in olive and wine flashed moiré under the inflatable lights. Single-breasted green and red overcoats had black popper pockets on each arm. The silver cloak and coat toward the end were astronaut-street, and the designers sent more direct messages to the cosmos with a Kenzo-font "UFO" sweatshirt, symbol socks, and nylon parkas that danced with little Inca-esque spaceships and aliens. A dark hooded jacket and pant ensemble was crazy-sprayed with more dripping hieroglyphs and spaceships, like the jottings of some locked-up alien abductee or a graffiti artist who's watched too much Stargate.
Lim said the collection started with "the idea of individuals that build into a community, and openness to believing in what else might be out there." So you don't have to believe in E.T. to tap into the tribal function of this collection. Via two tunes from Saint Etienne's Foxbase Alpha on the soundtrack, plus the chunkiness of both silhouettes and boots, it was reminiscent of 1990s Camden Town—loads of loudly dressed kids, communicating with clothes.
But that doesn't answer the question: Are we alone? This collection featured quite a few Undeniably Fine Overcoats. And if you were an alien who fell to Earth, where would you go and hang to pass unnoticed? The menswear shows, obviously. The truth may be out there already—in a Tommy Ton gallery.
