Curious about Humberto Leon today? From Opening Ceremony and Kenzo to his LA restaurant Chifa, discover what he runs now and where to find his work.
Wondering what became of Humberto Leon is common, and fair. The Opening Ceremony co‑founder and former Kenzo creative director did not step off the stage after 2019. He splits his energy between a family restaurant in Los Angeles, ongoing creative direction across fashion and culture, and the evolution of the Opening Ceremony brand under a new owner.
Here is the timeline that anchors the present. Opening Ceremony launched in 2002 in New York with Carol Lim, then the duo led Kenzo from 2011 to 2019. In January 2020, New Guards Group acquired Opening Ceremony’s trademarks, while the physical stores closed in the same year. That move coincided with a return to Los Angeles roots, where Humberto Leon helped open Chifa in late 2020, a vivid bridge between food, design, and family history.
Humberto Leon today : Chifa in Los Angeles and a community lens
Chifa sits in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, and it is exactly what the name hints at, a Peruvian Chinese kitchen shaped by the Leon family story. The restaurant opened in 2020 with Wendy Leon and Rica Leon at the core, while Humberto Leon steers the creative universe around it, from interiors to uniforms to collaborations with local artists.
The menu reads like a cultural map. Classic chifa dishes, Cantonese techniques, Peruvian comfort, and the kind of color-led presentation fashion people notice. The room carries that same attention to mood and narrative, a place where dinner and design talk to each other. For many fans, this is the easiest way to experience his work right now, no runway ticket required.
A small tip for those trying to follow his current output. Start with Chifa’s calendar and social channels for special menus or artist nights, since that is where ideas get tested in public. It sounds simple, but skipping that step often leads to the common mistake of assuming Humberto Leon paused creative work. He did not, it just lives across a table as much as a rack.
Opening Ceremony after 2020 : brand legacy, new owner, new rhythm
The retail era of Opening Ceremony ended in 2020, yet the brand did not vanish. New Guards Group, the platform acquired by Farfetch in 2019, took over Opening Ceremony’s intellectual property in January 2020. Since then the label has run as a design studio model, releasing capsules and collaborations selectively rather than operating a chain of stores.
That shift changed how fans interact with the brand. Instead of browsing a multi‑brand boutique opened in 2002, audiences now find drops online or through partner retailers tied to NGG’s network. The cadence is different, yet the DNA remains recognizable, with community‑driven projects and a playful eye for global pop culture. For readers asking where Humberto Leon fits in, he continues to shape creative concepts tied to this universe, often surfacing when campaigns, edits, or archival initiatives need a founder’s hand.
One practical note. People definetly miss the old Orchard Street browsing. The workaround is simple, though. Subscribe to Opening Ceremony’s digital channels, watch for capsule announcements, and look for archival highlights that revisit the 2002 to 2019 era, a span that defined how a store could behave like a cultural festival.
Beyond fashion : film direction, Kenzo’s 2011–2019 run, and ongoing commissions
The Kenzo chapter remains a landmark. From 2011 to 2019, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim re‑energized the house with graphic motifs and cross‑disciplinary storytelling, turning fashion shows into cultural moments. In 2018, Humberto Leon wrote and directed the Kenzo short film “The Everything”, a project that blended dance, narrative, and collection imagery, with a cast that included Milla Jovovich. It showed a path forward, not just clothes but cinema, sound, and community as a single language.
That appetite for hybrid work continues. Recent years have included commissions across art, film, and brand worlds, often linking back to Los Angeles and to diasporic narratives. The throughline is easy to spot. Humberto Leon treats creative direction like hospitality and hospitality like creative direction, which is why projects move between screen, plate, and product without losing voice.
For those looking to engage now, two tracks make sense. In Los Angeles, Chifa offers a live window into his current thinking. Globally, the Opening Ceremony label, under New Guards Group since 2020 and shaped by a network built since 2002, releases the kind of capsules that reward attention. Add the film work seeded in 2018 and you get the present tense answer to the question at the top : Humberto Leon is building across mediums, in public, and very much still in motion.