Summary report on the research study and prediction for Kenzo Fall/Winter 09

Summary report on the research study and prediction for Kenzo Fall/Winter 09

Introduction
The project is divided into 2 parts. The first part is a group research study which requires us to apply color theories to study, analyze a selected fashion brand. Kenzo is the brand we have studied. Each group member is responsible for 1 year fashion collection. And I am responsible for the 2006 Kenzo Spring/ Smmer and Fall/Winter.
The second part is individual work which is to design a fall winter collection for this brand. We need to forecast the color trend and make out the designs.

Part 1-Group research

Our group analyzes 6 years of Kenzo collections in total. In order to studying the 06 Kenzo collection, I find the collection photo in style.com. I recorded 4 points in each outfit. They are:
1. which colors are the garment used
2. the proportion of the color

3. color scheme are used

4. Hue, value, Chroma

Then I find out some colors, color scheme and theory are use frequently. I also realize which colors are the main colors in that collection. For the 06 Kenzo S/S collection, dark blue, red and white colors are the main colors. We can easy to image that these 3 colors are related to sea, sailing and sailor. And the theme of the collection is nautical. For the 06 Kenzo F/W collection, green, blue, red, black and white are the main colors. The designer applied different color scheme such as achromatic, mono-chromatic, double split complementary, single split complementary and analogous. For details, it can be found in this blog.

Summary of Kenzo 6 years’ collections
Since Antonio Marras to be the designer of KENZO, he still retains the concept of flowers and flourishing color in KENZO collections. In 04~09 collection, I find that the inspiration mainly comes from natural world, exoticism and national culture.

theme

04FW(the nomads and ruralism)

05 SS(Africa national features)

05 FW (the nomads)

06 SS (nautical styles)

06 FW(operatic inspiration about a Chinese princess who refused to marry)

07 SS (Theme: Love Affair with the Desert)

07 FW( Latin Culture ,tango dance theme)

08 SS (Theme of the season Flower)

08 FW

09 SS(in Wonderland' and Victorian flower-collectors)

After the group research, I find that some colors are always used in KENZO collections. They are red, black, white, blue and green colors. Red is the cooperate color of KENZO. When we see the red color, it is linked to the brand of KENZO immediately.

color

04 S/S(orange-red, blue, black, white)

04FW(Grey, Khaki, Brown, Black)
05 SS(black, Blue, green)
05 FW (pink, yellow, gree, blue, black ,white)
06 SS (pink, dark blue, white)
06 FW(dark green, blue, red, black, white)
07 SS (red, yellow, blue, green, pink, black ,white)
07 FW( black, grey, white, red, green, blue-green)
08 SS
08 FW(red, blue green, yellow-green, blak,white, grey)
09 SS(red, red orange, yellow-green, yellow, grey)

Black and white are always used in KENZO collection even in spring/summer or fall/winter. In fashion industry, Black and white colors are never to be past tense.

Blue and green are always used in KENZO collections especially in fall/winter. As I know, Kenzo Takada (高田賢三 Takada Kenzō)is a Japanese fashion designer. He is also the founder of a world-wide brand KENZO. He loves nature. His inspiration always comes from natural world. Blue and green are the natural colors and it represents sky, sea and plants.

Part 2 – individual work (Forecasting KENZO 09 F/W collection)

My theme is bride-to-be. As I have mentioned before, Kenzo always gain the inspiration from national culture. He loves those cultures full of exoticism. In my mind, India culture is full of color. After researching of India culture, I find an interesting topic-marriage in India. In their culture, female is treated in an unfair way. There are privileges of certain groups, especially the men. It is similar to ancient China. But In India, Generally all expenses of wedding are to be borne by the girl's side. So some ladies may not marry to the boys because of limited money. For India ladies, it is really happy for them to become bride-to-be. On the other hand, they may not married because of improverishment. In my collection, you will find happiness and a bit piteous feeling.(expressed by warm color but in low value)

The main colors are red, orange, black and white. The supplementary colors are blue and yellow colors. I avoid using those colors which have been used in 08 F/W collection except Black, White and Red (these colors almost used in every collection.)

In my research for the India culture, I find that red is necessary in India marriage. Red means Simplicity, Purity and Candor in their culture. We can see that their bridal veil is in red color. So it is the reason why I choose red to be the main color in this collection. Orange is often used in the India garments. When I see this color, I feel happy and exoticism. Orange can be linked to India. It is an Aggressive (Warm) Colors. It gives enthusiasm feeling.

The theme broad explains my theme bride-to-be as well as the color I use in the collection. According to the color theme broad, I try to match the color in 6 outfits. I make use of the software Adobe illustrator to do the experiment and it can save time and do the work efficiently.

Explain on 6 outfits

Color Definition
1. Primary Colors: red (different value and chroma) and bright yellow
2. Secondary Colors: light orange
3. Tertiary (Intermediate) Colors: red-orange and blue-green
4. Achromatic color: black and white

Color Matching of 09 Kenzo Fall/Winter collection

The first outfit (start with left hand side) is used achromatic Scheme. In my research, I find that amount of garments have used this color scheme in each collection. This outfit is to be the representative of garment with achromatic. The white line is to emphasis pattern of the cloth because I think it is the most interesting detail of the whole garment.

Color proportion

Black: 95% (main color in this garment)

White:5%

Emphasis point: line of the clothes~ pattern and the sewing line

The second outfit is used analogous scheme which is used red, red-orange and yellow white color. The main color of the garment is red-orange. So the proportion of red-orange is the large one. I add a large proportion of white because I discover that white make the main color more bright and eye-catching. And the red and yellow colors are next to the red-orange in color wheel. We can see the colors harmonize because of the Principle of Resemblance.

Color proportion (percentage)

red-orange: 60%

red: 15%

yellow: 5%

white: 20%
Emphasis point: the bag and the top part of the garment

The third outfit is used the principle of Contrast of color. The main colors are blue-green with white color. I use the bright yellow for highlighting the edge of the garment because it is the detail of design and I want people to look it first.

Color proportion (percentage)
blue-green: 35%

White:60%

yellow:5%

Emphasis point: edge of the top and the bottom parts

The forth outfit is used Mono-chromatic scheme. It is in red with different value and chroma. We can see that the dark red is outstanding first. The color matching looks harmorious because of the Principle of Resemblance.

Color proportion (percentage)

red with low value:15%

red with high value:80%

black: 5%

Emphasis point: edge of the garment and neck part

The fifth outfit is used contrast scheme. In Kenzo collection, flower print cannot be excluded. It is the main design point. In order to emphasis the flower, i use red (the corporate color) on it. And the total of the design look like japanese traditional garment Kimono. I find that some garments show the japan culture in each season. So it is the reason behind of this design.

Color proportion (percentage)

blue-green:80%

black:5%

red:15%

Emphasis point: flower print and japan style

The last outfit is used analogous Color Scheme. I use the red color in the middle part because the red color represents Kenzo and my theme. Maybe you will feel straight on it. For me, it looks pleasure to my eyes. It shows elegant and noble.

Color proportion (percentage)

Black: 80%

White:5%

red with low value: 15%

Emphasis point: multi-layer of the dress

Conclusion
I learn a lot in this project. I think it is an interesting task for me. Color is not easy to study but actually it is quite interesting.