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LVMH is reconfiguring Kenzo, with a new CEO pulled from budget lingerie chain Undiz and a new artistic director, Nigo, the Japanese designer and DJ, in the first sign of Virgil Abloh’s impact on the wider LVMH group.
Chief executive Sylvie Colin is exiting the LVMH-owned brand and Sylvain Blanc, who was most recently CEO of mass market lingerie chain Undiz, is succeeding her, according to a statement. Tomoaki Nagao, known as Nigo will start on 21 September, succeeding Felipe Oliveira Baptista who left in June 2021 after just three seasons. The Japanese designer, DJ and entrepreneur founded and sold streetwear brand Bape, co-created the Billionaire Boys Club brand with Pharrell Williams and most recently launched the brand Human Made. Both Abloh and Williams posted on Instagram to congratulate the designer. “Ascend! Ascend! Ascend! Cheers general,” Williams commented. Carol Lim who was at the creative helm of Kenzo together with Humberto Leon prior to Baptista also applauded him via the social media platform.
“The arrival of an extremely talented Japanese designer will allow us to write a new page in the history of the house that Kenzo Takada founded. I am convinced that the creativity and innovation of Nigo as well as his attachment to the history of the house will fully express all the potential of Kenzo,” LVMH fashion group chairman and CEO Sidney Toledano said in a statement.
Nigo has ties to Virgil Abloh, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s who recently took on a much more collaborative and prominent role inside LVMH. The two collaborated on a capsule collection, LV², which also released a pre-Spring 2022 collection. The collection featured a duck festooned with the “LV Made” logo. In July, LVMH announced that it would be deepening its relationship with Abloh, launching new brands and partnering with existing ones. LVMH Toledano said incoming CEO Sylvain Blanc will be tasked with “opening a new chapter” for Kenzo, in an internal memo seen by Vogue Business. The hiring of a CEO from a fast fashion lingerie brand Undiz, known for weekly product drops and collaborations, could offer clues. Kenzo’s emblematic Tiger sweatshirts currently start at £195.
“Working simultaneously in the worlds of fashion and music, with acute sensitivity to detail and through frequent collaboration with some of the best known companies and creative individuals in the world, he has innovated new ways for fashion to relate to its audience that have since become industry standards. In 2020, he produced a magnificent capsule with Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton,” Nigo’s bio on the press release reads.
“I believe [the nomination of Nigo] is the first manifestation of Virgil Abloh’s new role at LVMH,” says IFM professor Benjamin Simmenauer.
Abloh has a magic touch: he understands the young customer. Nigo has proven that too. And both have a knack for collaborations. In addition to the Louis Vuitton collaboration, Human Made’s collaborations include Coca-Cola, Adidas and Kaws. It suggests an intention to depart from Baptista’s poetic creations to focus on contemporary fashion. Kenzo is part of LVMH’s Fashion Group, helmed by Toledano that also includes Celine, Loewe, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, and Pucci and Patou. LVMH doesn’t break down sales for individual houses. Earlier this year, Guillaume Motte was appointed deputy CEO of the LVMH Fashion Group, joining from Sephora.
The pandemic has given an edge to blue-chip brands, with Dior and Louis Vuitton posting record growth. Now that the dust is settling, LVMH is turning its attention to its smaller brands. Celine, Loewe and Marc Jacobs have been mentioned in the recent quarters among brands with good traction. Givenchy is to stage the first show of creative director Matthew Willams, with an audience. Pucci has just appointed a new artistic director Camille Miceli.
Like Kenzo Takada, the founder of Kenzo who passed away in October last year, Nigo is Japanese. “Kenzo’s approach to creating originality was through his understanding of many different cultures. It’s also the essence of my own philosophy of creativity,” Nigo stated. According to Simmenauer, Nigo’s universe is a good fit for Kenzo. “Kenzo’s DNA is all about parties and a new approach to luxury that could be culturally diverse and not aristocratic. In that sense, Kenzo is close to street culture,” he says.
“Kenzo style is iconic, innovative and casual. Nigo’s designs can resonate well, especially if he has Abloh’s blessing,” Ortelli says.
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