KENZO has enlisted actors Lukita Maxwell and Nico Hiraga for its FW26 campaign, and the pairing captures something elusive in fashion advertising: genuine ease. Shot by a rising fashion photographer known for documentary-style portraiture, the campaign follows the duo through a series of urban scenes — a corner bodega, a subway platform, a sunlit apartment staircase — that feel more like a film still than a staged editorial.
Color is the campaign’s quiet protagonist. Maxwell wears a burnt-orange shearling coat that warms every frame it appears in; Hiraga’s petrol-blue knit introduces a cool counterpoint. The palette — ochre, rust, petrol, charcoal — feels distinctly autumnal without resorting to the expected burgundy-and-navy formula that dominates the season’s advertising landscape.
For KENZO, this campaign is an important cultural positioning move. The brand has been rebuilding its relevance among younger consumers since Nigo’s appointment, and the choice of Maxwell and Hiraga — both known for their understated personal style rather than red-carpet maximalism — signals that KENZO wants to be the brand that cool people wear every day, not just for events.
The campaign’s broader gesture is a return to the house’s founding spirit under Kenzo Takada — a joyful, pattern-driven approach to dressing that Nigo has been methodically rebuilding since taking creative control. The FW26 collection draws on the house archives’ most exuberant floral prints but renders them in muted, almost faded tones that temper their energy into something wearable across contexts.
