A BATHING APE® IS AMBUSH®ED!!! | Hypebeast

A BATHING APE®: A Bridge Between Music and Fashion

Hope things are well with you, first off, in your opinion what’s the intersection between music and fashion?

NIGO®: Since I originally got involved in music first and foremost with Hip-Hop, music was mostly a precursor to fashion due to the relevant and associated style that accompanied the culture. It was definitely music that introduced me to fashion.

VERBAL: Same with me, my first introduction to fashion was through Hip-Hop culture and the whole late 80s East Coast movement that I witnessed, when my mom first took me to the States. Back then in Japan, kids my age were still listening to cartoon songs… So you can imagine how dumbfounded I was, to see American kids around my age who were breakdancing and chanting along to RUN DMC.

And still now, when you are designing products such as the upcoming AMBUSH® x A BATHING APE® collection, how does music play a role and influence you?

VERBAL: Music definitely inspires our designs, and vice versa. Our latest collabo with BAPE is mainly inspired by vintage B-rated movies, but the Half-Shark-Alligator Parka is pretty much designed as an homage to Kool Keith’s (Dr. Octagon) song, “halfsharkalligatorhalfman”.

In the past we could say that each musical genre had its own sense of fashion and style. But do you think this notion has become dated? Do these pre-existing relationships no longer exist (i.e. stereotypical Hip-Hop and fashion over the years)?

NIGO®: It’s constantly evolving. RUN DMC were wearing skinny pants back in the day, then the fashion evolved towards a more extravagant XXL/over-sized style of fashion. But nowadays it seems that it’s slowly coming back to a more 80s-esque style.

VERBAL: Looking back to the 90s, NIGO® and I came up in different camps when it came to Hip-Hop influences. NIGO’s influences were pioneers like Kan Takagi and Ito Seiko, while I was more influenced by the dance scene and by artists like Buddha Brand, King Ghiddra, etc., where Hip-Hop meant baggy jeans down to your knees and bad attitude to match. But over the years, as I discovered NIGO’s end of the Japanese Hip Hop spectrum, and fell in love with the whole culture and philosophy… For example, it bugged me out to hear that Ito Seiko used to get on stage with a Vivienne Westwood get-up, and rock the mic!!! That’s why in my last mixtape “Delirious Japanese”, I was naturally drawn to songs by Tinnie Punx (Kan Takagi & Hiroshi Fujiawara), Melon, ECD, and other pioneer acts that NIGO® recommended, as they seemed to fit right in with my current vibe for music.

Is A BATHING APE® a brand that transcends many demographics and represent a brand that can be worn by people of many different backgrounds?

NIGO®: A BATHING APE® has been going on since 1993, over the years our fan base and customer base have evolved with the brand from a more underground label to an international brand. Throughout the years, its inevitable that our demographics’ tastes change but they still maintain an allegiance to the core concept that A BATHING APE® represents.

Now that A BATHING APE® is a global brand with flagship stores in more than 5 countries, how would you differentiate between the average fan in the West versus Japan and Asia?

NIGO®: It really depends how one experiences the brand. For example in the United States, most of our customers have known about the brand through Pharrell so their vision of the brand is built around him as opposed to Japan and the rest of Asia where our customer is more familiar with A BATHING APE because of myself and my work. Even London where we opened our first overseas flagship store maintains a different atmosphere than other markets in Tokyo and New York.

Why did you choose London as the first European location to open A BATHING APE® flagship store?

NIGO®: In my opinion London and Tokyo had a very similar fashion sense and energy so it was easier to bridge the gap. In addition I always had good connections there and it’s definitely helpful when it comes to opening or starting a new venture.

How did the AMBUSH® x A BATHING APE® collaboration originally come about?

VERBAL: NIGO® and I have been working together on music for a little while now, but it’s definitely during the TERIYAKI BOYZ’ “Serious Japanese” Tour in 2009, that we really linked up. We both shared a common passion with collectibles and jewelry. We were on the Shinkansen traveling south, when NIGO® and I had this conversation about accessories and jewelry and the idea of doing a collaboration came about naturally.