Jun Takahashi isn’t the best designer. Undercover is not the next Dior, he hasn’t made an influence on the global fashion community like Rei Kawakubo, and his garments rarely stand well on their own. Takahashi has never designed the most creative or groundbreaking clothing and his collections consistently fall short. It’s hard to forget Takeshi Hirakawa famously calling him out on a lack of originality and blatant copying.
So it’s interesting to look at this punk kid Bunka grad turned fashion designer. Without the likes of Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hitomi Okawa maybe he never would’ve met Kawakubo. And it’s his early friendships with Nigo, Hikaru Iwanaga, and Nobu Kitamura that made him the Urahara renowned Jonio. He continues to have a star studded line up of friends as he DJ’s with Tadanobu Asano and chit chats on the phone with Patti Smith.
Yet frankly it’s hilarious to see discussion on whether or not he’s “sold out.” I think it’s comical considering his career existence is based off of working with others. By now he’s worked with Coca Cola, Sanrio, BAPE, Comme des Garcons, Nike, Bounty Hunter, Hysteric Glamour, and the list of commercial companies goes on. Are we really going to question the “artistic integrity” of a man who has worked with Ginbis to design an animal crackers box for Isetan?
Though Takahashi has always been able to create a connected universe. UNDERCOVERLAB, the world of Grace and GILA, as well as video presentations such as this for openstrings are perhaps the best portrayal of it. UNDERCOVER when broken down into separate identities is weak, discombobulated, and frankly confusing. Yet together it creates this identity that can still largely be summed up by the title “But Beautiful.”
The UNDERCOVER/UNDERCOVERISM label is a blatant pitch, a clear marketing ploy. Undercover is largely desirable but not (internationally) accessible. If we’re going to criticize Undercover for anything it should be its exclusive price points which frankly are hard to justify especially for the perceived Undercover customer. While more reasonably priced within Japan Takahashi has ironically gotten people to spend hundreds of dollars on pairs of crust pants. He has consistently mocked mass production and even blatantly called out Jil Sander for Uniqlo. Though I’m sure, given the potential profit, Takahashi will have no problem adapting to designing for Uniqlo
For anyone still questioning his “artistic integrity” there are 840 Uniqlo stores in Japan.
