Watch 'YO! MY SAINT' BY KENZO AND KAREN O
The theme being, 'two muses, one artist in love', the story takes you in relationship between an artist and his muses. For Kenzo SS18 campaign, "YO! MY SAINT" is a nine minute short film produced by Karen O who also sings the title track and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. Capturing the utmost Wong Kar Wai vibes with its colorful extremes and subdued narratives, Amirpour beautifully directed a storyline that takes us into a creative artist's vision and personal devotions.
Mayan Toledano contributes to the background photography, which is just another wonderful touch to this collaboration.
Watch the short film below. ..
Linking them altogether is the underlying theme of muses – honoring, celebrating, and re-imagining the instigators and inspirations of creativity. It all began with KENZO creative directors Humberto Leon and Carol Lim’s graphic, bold, and daring collection, their sartorial mediation on pioneering model Sayoko Yamaguchi and music icon Ryuichi Sakamoto. “We talked about Sayoko being the historic muse, and Ryuichi, who we love and are obsessed with, being our modern muse,” says Humberto. The all-Asian cast runway show was groundbreaking and emotionally resonant. Backstage they were greeted by onlookers moved to tears at seeing such an inclusive statement. The torch was then passed to Yeah Yeah Yeah’s front-person Karen O. Karen composed a profound narrative with “YO! MY SAINT” a track that builds to an arresting crescendo and the fades into a gorgeous lullaby coda. Ana Lily Amirpour, the visionary behind the exemplary Iranian vampire noir A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night helmed the cinematic expression of the venture and worked closely with Karen (who also has a brief cameo). “Humberto and I are technically the producers,” explains Carol. “The beautiful part about this is it’s two women that decided to make this film together. It’s an amazing artistic endeavor and a conversation between two women. A female musician and a female director. That’s kind of the starting point of this. We’re so excited for it to finally come out.”