Jun Takahashi founded his Undercover label in 1993, whilst studying at the Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, showing in Paris for the first time by 2002. Amember of Tokyo’s Team GIRA running club, the designer creates activewear lines for both men and women under the label Nike x Undercover Gyakusou, with the sportswear giant. Additionally, Takahashi has collaborated with Uniqlo to create Uniqlo Undercover, since 2011, Supreme in 2016 and most recently lent its street style edge to Valentino’s Fall/Winter 2019 collection.
In its infancy, Undercover was influenced by Punk, and ripped Ts and patched leather jackets were the mainstays of the collection. Today Takahasi’s aesthetic remains subversive but is infused with a technicality and clarity lacking in early collections. Takahashi seeks to challenge preconceived notions both in his designs, and their presentation. The designer has staged shows with identical twins in almost identical clothing, created jackets with branches protruding from them and styled models with flower arrangements covering their faces.
The designer does however have a practical side, he chose to shoot a lookbook in freezing temperatures to prove the effectiveness of his outerwear and many of his designs have eminently practical design features. In 2018, the designer focused all efforts on his menswear collections, stepping away from producing womenswear. In line with his solo menswear show in Paris, Takahashi released a 20-minute documentary following the creation of his Spring/Summer collection titled “The New Warriors”, drawing on themes related to the 1979 action film “The Warriors”.
Takahashi is married, has a son and as a young man was the lead singer of the cover band "The Tokyo Sex Pistols."
In 2015, Undercover celebrated its 25th anniversary with an exhibition of its most notable graphic slik screen prints in Hong Kong as well as the release of the a book chronicling the labels womenswear collections.
