Fashion designer Kenzo Takada's catwalk – in pictures

The late fashion designer was the first from Japan to break into Paris’s exclusive fashion milieu in the 1970s. His colours and prints were a far cry from the traditional Parisian style of the time

Main image: Kenzo Takada after a show in Paris in 1991. Photograph: Images Press/Getty Images

  • Kenzo Takada, left, and Carol LaBrie – Takada’s muse and the first Black model to appear on the cover of Italian Vogue – in New York, 1971. La Brie is wearing Kenzo’s trademark stripes, checks and flowers
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    Kenzo Takada, left, and Carol LaBrie – Takada’s muse and the first Black model to appear on the cover of Italian Vogue – in New York, 1971. La Brie is wearing Kenzo’s trademark stripes, checks and flowers

  • A model wearing a white wool long-sleeved ‘pantsuit’ and oversized beret by Kenzo for JAP for Vogue, August 1971. The following year, Takada won the Fashion Editor Club of Japan award
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    A model wearing a white wool long-sleeved ‘pantsuit’ and oversized beret by Kenzo for JAP for Vogue, August 1971. The following year, Takada won the Fashion Editor Club of Japan award

  • A model in Paris wearing a ruffled yellow coat and blue tights for Kenzo for JAP, also in 1971
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    A model in Paris wearing a ruffled yellow coat and blue tights for Kenzo for JAP, also in 1971

  • Kenzo’s ready-to-wear spring-summer 1977 collection, shown in Paris in October 1976, the same year the brand opened its flagship store in Paris
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    Kenzo’s ready-to-wear spring-summer 1977 collection, shown in Paris in October 1976, the same year the brand opened its flagship store in Paris

  • Kenzo’s checks were the centrepiece of his spring/summer 1978 collection, shown in Paris
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    Kenzo’s checks were the centrepiece of his spring/summer 1978 collection, shown in Paris

  • Kenzo’s signature check, translated into knitwear and worn on the autumn/winter 1981 catwalk, in Paris
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    Kenzo’s signature check, translated into knitwear and worn on the autumn/winter 1981 catwalk, in Paris

  • Kenzo’s very successful spring-summer 1983 collection. The same year, the brand launched his first menswear collection
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    Kenzo’s very successful spring-summer 1983 collection. The same year, the brand launched his first menswear collection

  • Kenzo’s 1983 collection featuring a colour-blocked kimono
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    Kenzo’s 1983 collection featuring a colour-blocked kimono

  • A model dances on the catwalk – Kenzo shows were famously fun and unorthodox – wearing a full skirt, beret and ballet slippers
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    A model dances on the catwalk – Kenzo shows were famously fun and unorthodox – wearing a full skirt, beret and ballet slippers

  • A monochromatic outfit for Kenzo’s autumn-winter collection in Paris, 1983
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    A red outfit for Kenzo’s autumn-winter collection in Paris, 1983

  • A model wears a tiger print, a trademark of Kenzo’s designs, on the autumn-winter 1983 catwalk
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    A model wears a tiger print, a trademark of Kenzo’s designs, on the autumn-winter 1983 catwalk

  • A model in an androgynous suit on Kenzo’s commercially successful spring-summer 1984 catwalk
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    A model in an androgynous suit on Kenzo’s commercially successful spring/summer 1984 catwalk.

  • Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1984 collection. Shortly after this collection, the brand launched a new line of inexpensive clothes called Album by Kenzo
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    Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1984 collection. Shortly after this collection, the brand launched a new line of inexpensive clothes called Album by Kenzo

  • More plaid and florals, from Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1984 show
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    More plaid and florals, from Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1984 show

  • Skirts, trousers and a sweater – Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1984 show was a riot of colour and knitwear
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    Skirts, trousers and a sweater – Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1984 show was a riot of colour and knitwear

  • A model dances down the Kenzo spring-summer 1984 catwalk
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    A model dances down the Kenzo spring-summer 1984 catwalk

  • Kenzo’s spring-summer 1986 collection. A year after showing in Paris, the brand launched a children’s line called Kenzo Jungle
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    Kenzo’s spring-summer 1986 collection. A year after showing in Paris, the brand launched a children’s line called Kenzo Jungle

  • Suits and matching turbans in Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1986 show. Of his work, Takada once said: ‘Fashion is not for the few, it is for all the people. It should not be too serious’
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    Suits and matching turbans in Kenzo’s autumn-winter 1986 show. Of his work, Takada once said: ‘Fashion is not for the few, it is for all the people. It should not be too serious’

  • Short dresses and long boas – Kenzo’s spring-summer 1991 collection. By the 90s, the brand had launched a soon-to-be successful line of perfume
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    Short dresses and long boas – Kenzo’s spring-summer 1991 collection. By the 90s, the brand had launched a soon-to-be successful line of perfume

  • Models in chintz prints, brights and scarves at the autumn-winter 1991 collection, shown in Paris
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    Models in chintz prints, brights and scarves at the autumn-winter 1991 collection, shown in Paris

  • Model and actor Angie Everhart does ‘cottage-core’ on the Kenzo autumn/winter 91 catwalk in Paris
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    Model and actor Angie Everhart does ‘cottage-core’ on the Kenzo autumn/winter 91 catwalk in Paris
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