Thom Yorke Taps UNDERCOVER for Limited-Edition Japan Tour Collection
Ahead of his first solo tour, the Radiohead frontman worked with his longtime friend Jun Takahashi to create an exclusive lineup of T-shirts and sweatshirts out of his old scrapbook entries.
Thom Yorke, Radiohead’s leading man and the brain behind English rock group The Smile, is a good friend of UNDERCOVER’s founder and creative director, Jun Takahashi. In March 2021, in fact, the decorated musician debuted an acoustic version of Radiohead’s debut 1992 single “Creep” on the fashion label’s Tokyo Fashion Week runway for Fall 2021, when Takahashi’s collection, aptly titled “Creep Very,” mirrored the remixed song’s pared-back aura. Having maintained a friendship in the years since, Yorke and Takahashi have now reunited in a professional sense to deliver an all-new collaboration at Yorke’s suggestion.
Yorke, who will be embarking on a solo 10-stop tour across Japan beginning on November 12, approached UNDERCOVER about creating a ready-to-wear collection filled with the sketches and random poems that he had written in his scrapbook over the last several years. Takahashi took the source material and selected the best works to be turned into graphic T-shirt and sweatshirt designs. The results include “Thom Yorke University” T-shirts, portraits of Yorke taken by Michael Avedon covered in illustrative eyes and poetry cascading down the back of “Pain & Confusion” tops.
The UNDERCOVER x Thom Yorke collection will be released online and at UNDERCOVER NOISE LAB Shibuya PARCO and UNDERCOVER Shinsaibashi PARCO on November 15, with prices ranging from ¥16,500 JPY ($108 USD) to ¥27,500 JPY ($181 USD).
A limited number of 12-inch “Don’t Get Me Started” singles, which immediately sold out at select record stores upon release in August of this year, will go for sale in the aforementioned UNDERCOVER stores, while a special Thom Yorke zine and limited-edition “Live at Electric Lady” 12-inch will exclusively be sold at tour venues. Take a look at the lineup in the gallery above.
