The Cult of K*NZO, a look at ideas around consumer culture and fashion, equality, Battersea Arts Centre

The Cult of K*NZO A new show that looks at ideas around consumer culture and fashion, equality, and its impact on how we see equality and divisions of class and race will be on stage at the end of this month.

The Cult of K*NZO, from writer, performer and video artist Paula Varjack is heading to London as part of a UK tour on April 27 at the Battersea Arts Centre.

In the show, Paula interweaves the stories of one woman’s lifelong desire for luxury and the young Kenzo Takada’s dream of becoming a fashion designer.

Kenzo was one of the first men to study at fashion school in Japan and one of the first Japanese designers to come to train and design in the western world before launching one of the biggest fashion labels in the world.

Paula says she fell in love with high fashion at an early age via her mother’s magazines.

Paula said: “Most of my clothes are carefully selected from eBay or charity shops but a couple of winters ago I got up in the middle of the night so that I could be amongst the first to buy from H&M’s new Kenzo collaboration.

“I spent as much in 10 minutes as I usually do in a year! What was it about these clothes and this brand that made me act so out of character?

I couldn’t work it out and felt compelled to explore it further; to make a show looking at what drives people to want things that are exclusive, that not everyone can have, and the stories we tell by what we wear.”

“Fashion is an art form everyone is forced to engage with. Whatever we wear expresses something, even if it’s that you don’t want to be seen to show an interest in fashion.”

In a world where you are who you wear, The Cult of K*nzo looks at how high end designer brands create desire, the tension between inclusion and exclusion, and the mysterious allure of the high street.