“It is legitimate to say that Nigo is the first streetwear designer that’s taken on this kind of brand,” said Toby Feltwell, a cofounder and creative director at streetwear label Cav Empt, who worked with Nigo at both Bape and Billionaire Boys Club. (“I would say that Virgil was a kind of post-streetwear designer,” he added, not to diminish Virgil Abloh’s historic turn at Louis Vuitton, but to correct a common misapprehension about streetwear’s current relationship with runway fashion.)

A month after the shoot at Jacob & Co, Nigo would return to the international stage to present his debut Kenzo collection – the autumn 2022 line, which is in stores now. It was a parade of colourful workwear, suits, and knits, replete with archival prints, styled with berets and letterman jackets, all crafted from the simple fabrics (denim, cotton, wool) Nigo knows best.

The show was a reminder of Nigo’s talent for outsourcing showmanship – Ye sat with actress Julia Fox at the unveiling of the Kenzo collection inside Paris’s Galerie Vivienne, flanked by Pharrell; Pusha T; and Tyler, the Creator. Asked by a journalist why he was there, Ye uttered just two syllables before walking away: “Nigo.”

When I arrived at Kenzo’s Paris headquarters in early June, Nigo was busy working on the follow-up to his first collection in a large sun-drenched…