Yuni Ahn must have one of the best meet-cute tales in fashion. It happened at the Café Kitsuné, where Gildas Loaëc spotted her, was impressed by her style, and eventually struck up a conversation. Not bad as job interviews go.
“I’m lucky, because I’ve always just had fun in fashion,” said Ahn, who most recently worked for Celine, but has also done stints for Gucci, Chloé, Stella McCartney, All Saints, and Paul Smith.
With her second outing as Kitsuné’s creative director, Ahn kept right on in that vein. Tailored pieces were mixed with streetwear, amped up with pops of blazing orange and yellow, or tempered with pastel stripes—or, cleverly, a hologram motif on jersey. Elsewhere, the designer extrapolated a ’70s-era moiré into a fine rainbow knit. “It has to do with feelings,” she said. “I’m just feeling the colors and the rainbows.”
The coats were especially strong. One key piece was a vitamin orange coat worked with a K monogram—turned on its side, it looked like fox ears. The house’s signature fox returned again and again, sometimes leaping to the eye, and at others staying elusive (the camouflage is a case in point). “It’s a fox hunt,” she joked. “I want people to feel upbeat.”
She’s also upping the brand’s accessories game, with silver fox pendants, brightly hued small leather accessories, eyewear in collaboration with Khromis, and shoes with Michel Vivien and Sebago.
