I was literally squealing when I heard that Kenzo was collaborating with H&M a couple of months back, and I really couldn’t wait. And when I saw the teaser video of the Kenzo jungle  – leopard prints in colour popping colours (scroll to the bottom to refresh your memory ;)) –  it really didn’t come as a surprise because it was something that was so characteristic of designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon’s design aesthetic.

A couple of days ago, the brand released their teaser photos of the collection, and guess what? There really wasn’t a leopard print in sight! Instead, the three looks presented to us, was of a different type of feline: the tiger. Again, no surprises here, but let’s just say it’s psychedelic tiger skin prints, with some outerwear thrown into the mix. Now THIS was quite a surprise, not because of the tiger print because it is based on an archival Kenzo print as a tribute to the brand’s founder Kenzo Takada, as a tribute to the brand’s approaching 50th Anniversary. So what exactly am I surprised about? Well, let’s just say that the surprising factor was that I didn’t find it appealing at all, but rather gaudy and the footwear rather tacky, to be honest. To be honest, it was more streetwalker rather than street cred. *cringes*

So there you have it, a first look at the campaign, featuring not models, but rather “people [the designers] admire, icons in their own field, people who are influential beyond their fashion sensibility”, said Leon. Photographed here are Amy Sall, activist and founder of SUNU: Journal of African Affairs, Critical Thought + Aesthetics, artist and poet Juliana Huxtable, music and performance artist Oko Ebombo, and makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench.

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting, the launch, slated for November 3rd is just a mere 3 months away.