After kicking off in London at the beginning of the month, the final day of the SS20 menswear shows are now here, finishing in Paris. Rounding off the season, design duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim today debuted their final collection for Kenzo, after announcing they would be leaving the house after eight years earlier this month.
To say the duo wanted to go out with a bang would be an understatement. Taking over Paris’s AccorHotels Arena – with a casual capacity of 20,000 people – guests included M.I.A. and Miss Fame. As with the designers’ previous co-ed outings, the show was split with the menswear section opening and featuring models in babushka-style headscarves. In the middle of the runway, a group of dancers performed on traditional zori platforms.
With the final men’s look disappearing Solange suddenly appeared – no, it wasn’t things you imagined – on a platform with her band to perform “I’m a Witness”, the final track from her 2019 album When I Get Home. Then, the womenswear segment began, with models emerging wearing all the inches, with floor-skimming extensions. Part-mermaid, part-diver, the models looked as if they’d emerged from the sea with tiny pearls all over their clothes and accessories – even their nails. Solange and the band came down to the runway, with the singer conducting them as the models sashayed past.
After Dazed 100 model Noah Carlos closed the show, the entire procession of models re-emerged before Leon and Lim came out to take their final bow, leaving the runway with the singer. With the designers now leaving the Parisian house, stay tuned to see who will take the helm.
