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- 2009 (Creation)
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While attending Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, Jun Takahashi (b. 1969) and Nigo (born Tomoaki Nagao) (b. 1970) founded the label Undercover. In 1993, they opened the NOWHERE store in Harajuku, Tokyo. Undercover first showed at Tokyo Fashion Week in 1994, and first showed off-schedule at Paris Fashion Week in October 2002. In 2001, as part of the Spring Summer collection, Takahashi debuted his menswear line Undercoverism. In 2010 the company collaborated with Nike on an activewear line called Gyakusou and in 2012 the label designed a capsule collection with Uniqlo called UU. The range consisted of 100 pieces for men, women and children, and was produced for two seasons. Diffusion line John UNDERCOVER was launched in 2013, along with Sue UNDERCOVER, and in 2016 a seasonless line called the shepherd UNDERCOVER was launched. Also in 2016, the company partnered with Supreme and with Dr. Martens to produce versions of their 8-Eye Boot and a 3-Eye Shoe. Undercover collaborated with Dr. Martens on five more occasions. The label has designed collections with KAWS, NikeLab, Eastpak, GU, Converse, Vault by Vans and Hello Kitty.
Sources: Hypebeast; Robert Klanten, The New Luxury: Defining the Aspirational in the Age of Hype, ed. Jian DeLeon (Berlin: Gestalten and Highsnobiety, 2019); SSENSE; Straits Times; The Guardian.
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Note
Invisible Men exhibition label:
UNKNOWN PLEASURES CAPE
Undercover
2009
A graphic representation of a dying star synonymous with Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album, the illustration of pulsar CP1919 is woven into this cape. Designed by Japanese brand Undercover, it was part of a collection belonging to Joy Division bassist Peter Hook.
Wool, nylon, cashmere
Archive no. 209.101.1
Note
From Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive:
UNKNOWN PLEASURES CAPE
Undercover × Joy Division
2009
Harold D. Craft, Jr’s illustration of pulsar CP1919 for his 1970 PhD thesis, ‘Radio Observations of the Pulse Profiles and Dispersion Measures of Twelve Pulsars’, is synonymous with its use on the cover of Joy Division’s album Unknown Pleasures.
It has been repeatedly used in other contexts, including on this cape, which was part of a collection produced by the Japanese brand Undercover, and was previously owned by Peter Hook of Joy Division. It is made from a long double-weave wool blanket with a dark grey outer surface and light grey lines, and a reversed colourway on the underside. A hood is attached to one end by a zip, and inside the hood is an adjustable face mask that fastens with Velcro to an elastic strap that is threaded into the lining of the hood.
Wool, Nylon, Cashmere
Archive no. 209.101.1