Kenzo Takada, who has died aged 81 after contracting Covid-19, was the first internationally successful Japanese designer and, for more than a decade after his Paris debut in 1970, was a major influence on world taste in dress.
This was only fair, since his work synthesised traditional and genre clothes and ornaments from east and west, north and south, into a fashion without frontiers. He had been based in the French capital from 1964, and made it his home for the rest of his life.
Related: Fashion designer Kenzo Takada's catwalk – in pictures
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