BFF’s Nigo and Pharrell Williams, who last season teamed up on a Louis Vuitton collection, often go bowling together in Tokyo, complete with hot dogs and Coca-Cola.

During a preview of the spring 2026 Kenzo collection, which includes bowling shoes, some with a platform sole incorporating snow globes, Nigo demonstrated his excellent form in throwing the ball, which he said unfortunately does not yield much joy on his scorecard.

Settling on “joy” as a key brand attribute of Kenzo, Nigo and design director Joshua Bullen polled staff about what element of the brand sparked it for them. It’s flowers for Nigo, and “color and playfulness” for Bullen.

Yet their show, which included poppy motifs, lots of bubblegum pink and kooky bunny characters, evoked more puzzlement than joy as the young, coed cast trudged through iconic Art Nouveau restaurant Maxim’s. They wore handsome dinner jackets one minute, plush tiger-print hoodies complete with feline ears and long tails the next.

While Nigo’s first years at Kenzo mostly mined wholesome, collegiate style blended with Japanese elements from the Kenzo Takada archive, the brand seems to be veering off in a far more eccentric direction.

Bubble-hemmed painter smocks worn with bloomers or tiny lace shorts was the predominant look for women, while the men piled on shawl-collared tailoring or military jackets, pairing them with either ballooning harem pants or boxer shorts.

The tuxedo-like elements were often truly beautiful, and dovetailed with a formalwear trend gathering steam in Paris. But there were more gutter balls than strikes in this confounding collection.