Kenzo have collaborated with Los Angeles filmmaker Kahlil Joseph on a short film ‘Dawn In Luxor’

Kenzo has tapped Kahlil Joseph – the director behind Flying Lotus collaboration Until The Quiet Comes – to create a surreal and uplifting short film in line with the No Fish No Nothing theme that anchored their Spring/Summer 2014 ready-to-wear collection.

Kenzo presented us with a fusion of classic tailoring and Los Angeles beachwear on the Spring/Summer catwalks. But a hidden message lay among the embroidered crop tops, split midi skirts and plastic-coated maxi dresses. The now-iconic melted fish prints and slogan sweaters were designed to reflect on overfishing in already-crowded marine territories, with Creative Directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon wanting to emphasise the need for public intervention and, essentially, draw attention to this increasing conservation problem.

The new Dawn In Luxor film continues the juxtaposition of beauty and flawed reality that the collection began by offering viewers a fragmented view of Los Angeles. Routine imagery such as a woman looking out towards the sea or a man ordering fish in a restaurant (to get the reply “no fish”) are shown alongside naively fantastical sequences of a boy paying homage to a beached dolphin.

The world through Kahlil Joseph’s lens appears beautiful, yet paradoxical. Like Kenzo’s collection, Dawn In Luxor encapsulates California in all its variety; drawing on Lim and Leon’s teenage years, where otherworldly elements combine with an emotional narrative to celebrate the recognition of difference and ability for change.

Kenzo SS14

Kenzo SS14

Words: Samantha Southern