UNDERCOVER

INFLUENCE BY THE JAPANESE PUNK STYLE MOVEMENT, AND WHILE STUDYING AT BUNKA ACADEMY OF FASHION, JUN TAKAHASHI CREATED THE COVETED JAPANESE BRAND UNDERCOVER. AFTER GRADUATING, HE HELD HIS FIRST SHOW IN JAPAN FASHION WEEK FOR AUTUMN/WINTER 1994/95, LATER MOVING TO PARIS FOR HIS 2003 SPRING/SUMMER SHOW. TAKAHASHI LINKED UP WITH NIKE TO CREATE THE COVETED AND ONGOING NIKE X UNDERCOVER GYAKUSOU COLLECTION IN 2010, THE LONGEST COLLABORATION IN NIKE’S HISTORY. HE IS THE TWO-TIME RECIPIENT OF THE MAINICHI GRAND PRIZE IN FASHION SPONSORED BY THE JAPANESE MAINICHI NEWSPAPER.

UNDERCOVER IS A JAPANESE FASHION BRAND MIXING URBAN AND STREETWEAR WITH TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS, TAKING ITS INFLUENCE FROM JAPANESE PUNK AND AMERICAN STREETWEAR. JUN TAKAHASHI DESCRIBES HIS STYLE AS “CHARMING, BUT SCARY, BEAUTIFUL BUT FRIGHTENING”. IT IS EQUALLY FAMOUS FOR ITS GRAPHIC T-SHIRTS AS ITS CONCEPTUAL RUNWAY PIECES. THE BRITISH PUNK ROCK BAND THE SEX PISTOLS HAD A HUGE IMPACT ON TAKAHASHI, AND HE WAS THE LEAD SINGER OF A GROUP CALLED TOKYO SEX PISTOLS IN HIS YOUTH. THE BRAND, WHICH TURNED 30 IN 2020, IS MADE UP OF FIVE RANGES, WOMEN’S, MEN’S, THE SHEPARD, SUE, AND JOHN. 2013 SAW THE LAUNCH OF TWO NEW RANGES, THE JOHNUNDERCOVER FOR MEN RANGE AND ITS SISTER RANGE SUEUNDERCOVER, FURTHERMORE IN 2016 THE SEASON #1 OF THE SHEPARD WAS RELEASED AND MODELED BY RADIOHEAD FRONTMAN THOM YORKE, FRAGMENT DESIGNER HIROSHI FUJIWARA AND JUN TAKAHASHI. UNDERCOVER HAS COLLABORATED WITH UNIQLO AS WELL AS CREATING CAPSULE COLLECTIONS WITH SUPREME.

THE BRAND’S UNOFFICIAL MASCOT, A TEDDY BEAR WITH BLOCKED-OUT EYES, EXPRESSES THE IDEA OF UNDERCOVER EXACTLY, BEING SOMETHING NOT QUITE WHAT ONE EXPECTS, SOMETHING IMAGINATIVE AND DIFFERENT. THIS IS VOICED BY JUN TAKAHASHI WHEN HE SAYS, “IN MY WORK, I WANT TO EXPRESS NOT SOMETHING MERELY PRETTY OR CUTE, BUT TO FIND SOMETHING BEHIND IT”. THEIR MOTTO, "WE MAKE NOISE, NOT CLOTHES" EPITOMISES THE BRAND.