It is officially here Kenneth Ize & KARL LAGERFELD have unveiled their collaborative capsule collection.

Curated by style adviser Carine Roitfeld and designed by Head of Design at KARL LAGERFELD Hun Kim for the Spring/Summer 2021 season, the collection fuses Nigerian and European styles with bold prints and clean silhouettes.

The collection – featuring ready-to-wear grey and black checkerboard patterns on trousers, shirts, and skirts – arrives in gender-neutral styles made with ethically sourced fabrics from Nigeria. There are also suits with contrasting colours and simple tees featuring KARL LAGERFELD’s black and white colour palette and Kenneth Ize’s traditional aso-oke cloth.

In an interview with Vogue, Kenneth tells the publication how he approached making this collection:

When I was designing the collection I was definitely thinking about the man himself (Karl Lagerfeld), because he’s the one in the picture. But I knew that it was very important for me to express where I’m from, because it was like introducing myself to him. And that was really what I tried to do: How can I incorporate my own background and my own story into this collection? Every single outfit was based on African imagery, Malick Sidibé imagery for example.

 

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Kenneth took to his Instagram to share the good news:

It’s FINALLY here, The Launch of my collaboration together with the legendary house of @karllagerfeld !
I couldn’t be more happy and ecstatic to celebrate the collection with you all. @carineroitfeld you are my rock, thank you for believing in me and guiding me through all this process.

I would like to give a huge thank you to Design Director Hun Kim for allowing me within your space to design this collection. Thank you so much to the whole team of @karllagerfeld each one of you individually are just wonderful.

My deepest Love,
Kenneth.