It's only been 18 months since Carol Lim and Humberto Leon – founders of the New York City concept store Opening Ceremony – have been reinterpreting the codes of KENZO. 18 months during which the Maison has been reinvigorated with the wild soul of its original designer and creator Kenzo Takada. 18 months during which a maelstrom of influences and disciplines have been spliced, diced and recombined in an effort to re-energise the spirit of the brand.

Those endangered species that are freshness, quirkiness and impertinence have now been reintroduced in the fashion jungle. Thanks to the adventurous and perceptive nature of its two new Artistic Directors, KENZO is re-inventing the original spirit of the brand today: the happy mood and mischief of its origins in a highly identifiable style, both effortless and minute.

This DNA is that of Jungle Jap, the label created in Paris in 1970 by Mr Kenzo Takada. The Japanese young man – hooked on urban savannahs – didn't care about conventions of High Fashion and let loose his fantasy to demonstrate one can be creative while being accessible to most people. From his first show on in the Galerie Vivienne (where he also opened his first boutique), his style became an epitome of the times. The brand made of boldness and elegance was renamed KENZO in the early 80's and from then on inspired a new generation of young women. Spontaneous, authentic, free-spirited and cheeky – they are genuine panthers willingly tamed by the KENZO universe – today just as they were yesterday.

Ever since the poster and advertising assumed a major part in our culture in the twentieth century, great creative artists have made a huge visual impact on the feeling of every era that they have filtered and formulated. The most outstanding graphic artists gave life and expression to their epoch, making an indelible mark on our memories.

For more than thirty years, through drawing, poster design, photography, cinema, video and event design, Jean-Paul Goude has made an impression, in every sense, on our imagination. From the tops of the 60’s to the legendary Esquire magazine of the following decade, from the New York of Andy Warhol and mixed cultures, to Grace Jones, for whom he was Pygmalion, from the spectacular Bicentennial Parade in Paris in 1989 to the celebration of ‘Style Beur’ (Arab Style), from ads for Kodak and Chanel to working with the latest supermodels – Goude has triumphantly captured, time after time, the spirit of his age.

What is perhaps less well known is that this ‘made to order’ work is merely the flipside of Goude’s profoundly individual adventure, a journey (marked in particular by his celebration of a number of remarkable women) transformed into a sort of personal mythology. Life and work for Goude are inextricably linked, and this gives his work a particularly oblique personal cachet, and lifts it above mere images.

   – Patrick Mauriès