Fashion designer Kenzo Takada dies from Covid-19 complications at age 81 near Paris

PARIS (AP) — Kenzo Takada, the iconic French-Japanese fashion designer famed for his jungle-infused designs and free-spirited aesthetic that channeled global travel, has died. He was 81. The family said Takada died from complications from COVID-19. Takada retired from his house in 1999 to pursue a career in art, but it remains a respected fixture in high Paris fashion. Since 1993, the brand Kenzo has been owned owned by luxury goods company LVMH. He studied fashion in Tokyo before relocating to Paris and taking over a boutique there in 1970. The fashion house said he was “an emblematic personality in the fashion industry — always infusing creativity and color into the world.”