Felipe Oliveira Baptista joined Kenzo in July 2019, when he replaced Carol Lim and Humberto Leon after the American duo spent seven years at the service of the French maison. Kenzo is one of the fashion brands from the French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which bought the house from its founder in 1993.

“I am very honoured to have been at the service of this magnificent maison, the heritage of its founder Kenzo Takada, and I would like to thank my teams for their talent and their involvement”, commented the Portuguese designer.

Being a very experienced designer, Felipe Oliveira Baptista has collaborated with Max Mara, Christophe Lemaire and Cerruti at the beginning of his career, before winning the Grand Prix of the Hyères International Festival and, in 2003, the ANDAM fashion prize. His is most acclaimed creative period is commonly cited as his eight-year tenure as a designer at Lacoste, during which the brand doubled sales to two billion euros.
 
Commenting on his departure, Sylvie Colin, director general of Kenzo, stated: “We are very grateful to Felipe for having contributed, thanks to his creative talent, to the artistic influence of our house.”