![]() Even though it is not punk fashion per se, there are various punk influences throughout his designs, as well as references to other bits of American popular culture, such as Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. One of the most important thing to note about Takahashi’s style is the incredible influence the Sex Pistols have on him. Today, the brand has a large cult following, making the brand both sought-after and expensive. Soon after in 2003, he won two major awards for his designs from the Mainichi Shimbun (one of the major newspapers in Japan). In 2002, Takahashi’s brand debuted at Paris Fashion week with great success. They worked on this intermittently for about three years, taking breaks here and there, though the project eventually failed. Takahashi began working with fellow designer Hiroshi Fujihara in 1994 to create another brand called A.F.F.A., which stands for “ Anarchy Forever Forever Anarchy”. A new shop called “ Nowhere LTD” was opened after this and featured only clothing from the Nowhere brand. Soon enough, Takahashi was seeing his designs on the catwalk in Tokyo. Undercover really began to take off after the opening of Nowhere therefore Takahashi and Nigo opened another shop in Aoyama (fashion district in Tokyo). The brand really began in 1993 when Takahashi and Nigo opened a store called Nowhere in the trendy Tokyo district of Harajuku. Following his graduation in 1991, Takahashi continued to develop his Undercover label. During his study period, he founded the ‘Undercover’ brand with his friend and classmate, Nigo (who now heads the inconic Japanese streetwear label ‘A Bathing Ape’). Born in Kiryu, Gunma prefecture, Japan in September 1969, Takahashi studied Fashion Design at the Bunka Academy of Fashion. Takahashi has no boundaries for what he creates for Undercover.Jun Takahashi is the founder and head designer of cult Japanese label ‘Undercover’. Elaborate head pieces made from flowers and lace, as well as references to taxidermy and manga. Models walking down the runway in devilish red contact lenses and angelic crowns intricately made from braided hair. The Fall 2019 menswear collection was based around Stanley's Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971), mixing and matching modern streetwear with 17th century fashion. As Takahashi grew as a designer, Undercover's focus transformed to have a bigger emphasis on tailoring and abstract fantasies, while still including the contradictory and taboo nature of punk fashion.Ĭreating dresses out of men's shirt collars and evening jackets from layers of vintage lingerie. Undercover's early collections included patched leather jackets and distressed t-shirts. Vivienne Westwood was an important role model for Takahashi in his early work (Takahashi collected vintage Seditionaries pieces and even published a book about them). ![]() Singer for a Sex Pistols cover band (The Tokyo Sex Pistols) in the 90s, Takahashi's immersion in the punk subculture is evident in his work. It wasn't until 2002 when Takahashi presented his first Undercover collection at Paris Fashion Week. The front row was designated for fans, rather than the press, who were relegated to the back row.Īfter 4 years of designing for Undercover and being mentored by none other than Rei Kawakubo (Kawakubo was an early fan of Takahashi's work), Takahashi was persuaded to visit Paris in 1998. Undercover's early shows were guerrilla in style and intimate often held in warehouses and parking lots and with Takahashi's friends as models. Takahashi's creative high-fashion take on these concepts were fresh and unique. ![]() ![]() The 90s was an era of the boom of street culture, pop culture and social 'tribes' mixing with minimalist design. His unique take on streetwear resulted in Undercover becoming one of the fastest growing streetwear brands in 1990s Japan. Takahashi began to blend streetwear with experimental concepts, creating a creative mix of street, chaos, fragility, peace, drama and humour. Unsure of his own creative direction while studying, it wasn't until Takahashi saw his first Comme des Garcons show that he became inspired to break stereotypes. Showing his first collection at Japan Fashion Week just a year later in 1994, it was clear that Undercover was a brand to keep an eye on. Founding the high-end streetwear brand Undercover while still studying at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, Takahashi's first boutique, 'Nowehere' opened in Ura-Harajuku in 1993.
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