Abloh is a good student of fashion history, and his collaboration with Takahashi shrewd: Undercover may not be new to the scene, but it has managed to remain at the vanguard, undisturbed, prefiguring so much in fashion today. It was a curious pairing: the very much of-the-moment Abloh, and Takahashi, who has been a step ahead of his time since Undercover’s inception in 1990. Jun Takahashi, the label’s designer, was debuting “UNDEROFFWHITECOVERS,” a collaboration with Off-White, Virgil Abloh’s trendy juggernaut. I sincerely appreciate Pierpaolo offering an opportunity like this to a designer that came from streetwear and typically does whatever he wants.Tokyo, Japan – A Saturday evening this past September, on a back street of Aoyama, Tokyo’s major shopping district, the Undercover flagship boutique was abuzz with activity. When Pierpaolo suggested this to me, I was very happy because I really felt his respect. However, it was the first time that graphics I designed were used freely. For me, the way of working with Valentino wasn’t too different from that of other collaborators. For my own collections I usually mix ideas that come to mind and things that influence me. Takahashi, in turn, described an uncommon harmony to the process: “Pierpaolo gave me some keywords and I made the graphics based on my own interpretation of these words. The most immediate example I could give is that of couture and street: the collection spoke one language, made of two codes.” “The whole collaboration was a balance in the middle of polarities. “These two souls continuously mixed up in a sort of long-distance creative dialogue I enjoyed very much,” Piccioli explained. I asked both about how they approached working on this collection, as the two approach design in totally different ways-Takahashi, the lord of immersion, fills his collections with graphics and phrases in deference to the spirit of a person, book, film, or piece of culture Valentino is the conjurer of the grand, romantic gesture in fabric. Ahead of their Spring 2020 shows today in Paris, they both agreed to answer questions by email, Takahashi through a translator. And though the universe of making men’s clothing is small, one wondered how these spirits really connected. There were all the usual commercial concerns of a big collaboration to appreciate, sure, but mostly, it seemed, these two were out to have fun. The collections’ themes and stars-aliens and Poe are storied manipulators of time and dimension-seemed to be time-traveling themselves. Takahashi-designed motifs-flying saucers, Beethoven, and Edgar Alan Poe-were spun on Piccioli’s louche Italian tailoring and sumptuous and baggy sweaters just a few hours later, those motifs showed up again at the Undercover show, between Takahashi’s 17th-century cloaks and sweatsuit shapes, juiced with an homage to The Clockwork Orange. That is the question that animated Paris Men’s Fashion Week in January, when Jun Takahashi, the beloved savant of references and collaborations at Undercover, collaborated with Pierpaolo Piccioli, the great romantic who seduced couture fashion into the 21st century at Valentino. But have you ever stopped to think about which legends stan each other? Every fashion fan stans their own favorite designer, a legend held close to their heart, whose creations fill their closet.
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