Item 2019.101.2 - Undercover x Joy Division Trousers with Zip Off Back

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.