Jun Takahashi Launches New Line MAD and MADSTORE UNDERCOVER Concept Shop
Jun Takahashi Top 10
Fashion Designer and Founder of UNDERCOVER
Profile
Description
Jun Takahashi is a pioneering Japanese fashion designer and the founder of UNDERCOVER. Born in the city of Kiryu in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, Takahashi studied fashion design at the prestigious Bunka Academy of Fashion in Tokyo. While there, Takahashi met NIGO with whom he would found the UNDERCOVER label, with Takahashi continuing to develop the label after graduating in 1991.
With the opening of the influential NOWHERE boutique with NIGO in Harajuku in 1993, UNDERCOVER was placed at the epicenter of the Ura-Harajuku movement, thus establishing Takahashi as one of the most prominent designers in the Japanese fashion scene. In 1994, Takahashi also began a brand called A.F.F.A. with Hiroshi Fujiwara although releases were intermittent, eventually being shelved completely. Heavily influenced by punk music, particularly by The Sex Pistols (he played in a cover band during university called The Tokyo Sex Pistols, and he is nicknamed “Johnio” for his resemblance to frontman Johnny Rotten), Takahashi’s initial collections consisted of ripped up, deconstructed, shredded and patched leather jackets and T-shirts, with his style being described as conceptual and challenging.
Other references range from flower bouquets, A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick, taxidermy and manga. Debuting at Tokyo and Paris Fashion Weeks in 1994 and 2002 respectively, Takahashi won critical acclaim from the likes of Miuccia Prada, Rei Kawakubo and Suzy Menkes, as well as two prestigious prizes awarded by the major Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
Although Takahashi describes his own aesthetic as “strange, but beautiful,” his designs have also proved commercially successful, netting him coveted relationships with the likes of Uniqlo via the UU label, with Nike under the Gyakusou performance running collection, a limited edition digital camera with Canon, and a stall at Kawakubo’s Dover Street Market. Takahashi is married and has one son, and creates his designs from his studio in Tokyo called Undercoverlab.
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Latest Collections
Japanese designer Jun Takahashi has launched MAD, a new line part of his label UNDERCOVER. The name
UNDERCOVER unveils a new installation at Dover Street Market New York. Consisting of Jun
Today marks the debut of the latest retail endeavor from Jun Takahashi and UNDERCOVER as the
Having already joined forces with Champion, Vans, Clarks and the New York Yankees this season,
After taking a gander at the forthcoming apparel from UNDERCOVER and Nike’s ongoing GYAKUSOU
The coveted collaboration between Nike and Jun Takahashi’s UNDERCOVER is back, with another stellar
In terms of its seasonal collaborations, Supreme has stepped up the profile of its projects over
This season, UNDERCOVER returns with a Fall/Winter 2014 collection that continues to define the
Reinterpreting the classic Nike Dunk silhouette as a fashion wedge, UNDERCOVER’s Jun Takahashi has
Japanese retail giant Uniqlo’s latest collaboration with designer Jun Takahashi and UNDERCOVER has
For the first time since 2012, designer Jun Takahashi and UNDERCOVER have teamed up with retail
Streetwear guru Hiroshi Fujiwara and his fragment design label is set to collaborate with fellow
