Fashion Articles

[RobbertJan]

thought i'd share some, please post if you have some good ones:

Undercover

Jun Takahashi is the essence of Japanese cool, from his hanging curtain of hair to his black boots with tiny silver spoons tied to the laces.

"I found them in Clignancourt," says Takahashi, referring to mustard spoons winkled out of the Paris flea market, from where many weird and wonderful objects have been brought to his Tokyo studio.

The big square space, with the designer's spindly black-and-white painted images on the walls and only a single strip of daylight from a window high above his head, is filled with oddities: a kitschy, big-breasted nude statue; a giant, vomit-green alien toy; a wooden shrine stuffed with flowers; a bust of Lenin; cases of butterflies; and walls of the stuffed animals that he makes obsessively, even the night before his latest Undercover collection was shown in Paris in March.

That show was striking, even shocking, as Takahashi covered every piece of the models' bodies from head to toe, including complex, mummified masking of the faces.

"Why did I cover everything up?" the designer asks. "There was no reason, except to efface all feeling, like a destroyed doll. It was not about bird flu or some deep meaning. It was something aesthetic - I wanted to envelope them."

Takahashi, 37, with his label Undercover, is a powerful new fashion force whose disturbing romanticism and eerie poetry have earned him plaudits and become the foundation of a growing business. In May, the latest store will open in Taiwan, following Hong Kong in January and the Tokyo shop established in Aoyama in 2002.

You recognize an Undercover store because it is just that: an enclosed space. The windows in Aoyama are blanked out with the shop's neatly folded stock. In the Hong Kong store, artificial flowers fill the window space and broken bed springs serve as a backdrop. Undercover designs can also be found in fashion stores such as L'Éclaireur in Paris or London's Dover Street Market, owned by Comme des Garçons.

What about the clothes? They are beautifully crafted and pretty in a weird way. The spring collection, shown at the crumbling Bouffes du Nord theater in Paris, had layers of tablecloth lightness, with insides spilling out as if from a doll's stomach. Another show had feathers intricately cut out in felt. For winter the wrappings included a white jacket bandaged with ties, the headpiece decorated with rings and chains where eyes and nose should be.

The mood of Undercover is expressed in two words that are part of the identifying label: "But beautiful."

"In my head, there is always something beautiful and something ugly, which are equal," Takahashi says. "Simple beauty does not interest me. But just ugly does not interest me either."

Takahashi graduated from Tokyo's Bunka college in 1991 and set up his business two years later. His first retail step in 1993 was in a shop called Nowhere, where the space was divided between him and Nigo, the designer who went on to create Tokyo's hypercool A Bathing Ape store.

In 1994 the first Undercover collection was shown in Tokyo, with a Paris debut following nearly a decade later in 2002. Takahashi says that his beginning styles were street and punk and that his current style just evolved.

"There is no reason to think about it - it comes naturally," he says. Ask Takahashi if these layers of intense decoration make him a maximalist and he says that he tries to be a minimalist.

"It is not a question of appearances - it is more about a feeling," he explains.

His notebooks for each collection are fantastical collages juxtaposing flower bouquets with an image from Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" or wallpaper designs with spotted toadstools and manga images. They suggest a creative artist at work.

And the works on the walls prove that Takahashi is just that. He shows the tiny paintbrush with which he and his fellow Japanese artist Madsaki created the surreal scenarios, like disturbing fairy tales. They were shown last year in art galleries in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

"Perhaps in five years I would like to be just a painter," Takahashi joshes.

Right now he has been elected as fashion's new king of cool. Last year, he was tapped by Canon to create an Undercover limited-edition digital camera case. He is guest editor of Antwerp's hip A magazine, published in June.

After 12 years in business, his fashion dreams are modest: to open a store in Paris - or at least to be able to afford to put his team for the Paris show in a hotel with a bath.

"And I would really like to make everything by hand," he says. He has crafted objects since he was a small child - long before he made strange soft toys for his daughter Lala or used them to decorate the stores. Some of the creations are scary: stuffed animal heads mounted on the wall like hunting trophies, their heads reduced to half-bared skeletons.

The designer describes the Undercoverlab, designed by the Klein Dytham architectural group in 2001, as "chaos." But like the apparently chaotic shows, you know that the studio reflects a creative world.

"You enter into the universe of the interior - I am surrounded by objects - and I don't go out a lot," he says.

[RobbertJan]

Hedi Slimane:

http://men.style.com/gq/fashion/landing?id=content_4021

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/03/20/060320fa_fact

Ann D:

http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/ann_demeulemeester.shtml

http://www.lumiere.com/fashion/97/01/ann/

[RobbertJan]

Belgian designers:

http://www.iht.com/articles/1995/10/03/wait.t.php

http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f60/belgian-designers-seizing-moment-42142.html

Karl Lagerfeld:

http://nymag.com/fashion/06/spring/15746/

Nigo:

http://www.pigmotel.com/it/mag/2005/05/24/nigo-english/

[RobbertJan]

Designer Profile: Maurizio Altieri of Carpe Diem

i think it was from faust's blog,

can't find the link srry, ther's pictures with it in the og form

If one wants to talk about artisanship and craftsmanship, to get away from all the garbage that surrounds fashion – advertising, neurotic Chanel-wearing menopause-nearing women, glittery magazines that sell fakery in forms of images and shallow collections of syllables – in other words if one wants to concentrate on the garment itself (and after all, garment is fashion, everything else is filler) – one must talk about Maurizio Altieri.

Altieri decided to pursue his real passion – crafting clothes - after getting degrees in economy and jurisprudence. After working for some time at Chrome Hearts, he decided to strike out on his own. Thus his label, Carpe Diem, was formed in 1994. It started out as a leather house, and subsequently moved into cottons and knits (L’Maltieri and Linea lines), and bespoke (Anatomica and Sartoria lines).

The design philosophy from day one was creating timeless, utilitarian, hand-made clothes from highest quality materials that have undergone unique treatments. These included leathers (horsehide, cowhide, anaconda) that have been washed, distressed, crushed, and buried in soil for months, silver sterling buttons, 12-gauge over dyed cashmere, and hard cottons. The pride in craftsmanship techniques and attention to detail is on par with one that goes into fabric development - .all garments are hand made, the pants are lined, seams are carefully distressed. The result of this industrious labor is that the soul of the maker can truly be seen in the clothes. The garments, displayed on meat hooks (to remember the leather-making roots of the company), come with their own tube cases – a sign of respect for a garment.

They call on you to touch, examine, and contemplate them. Their beauty is in their purity, just like the purity of the Carpe Diem house manifests in its refusal to advertise, produce seasonal collections, fashion shows, and engage in other activities that are expected of a fashion house. Such philosophy forces one to appreciate the garment itself, stripped -- and that is the final, most beautiful, and purest manifestation of creating clothes.

[RobbertJan]

Jun Takahashi, Undercover

Monday, Dec. 02, 2002

Wear and Tear

As Jun Takahashi chases global fame, can Japan's hippest designer sustain his anarchist vision?

BY GREGORY BEALS/TOKYO

Jun Takahashi is in the sprawling concrete basement of his ultra-modern Tokyo headquarters, standing near several upside-down depictions of The Last Supper, a three-dimensional photograph of a naked woman, some vintage Vivienne Westwood shirts and a large Sex Pistols poster. His tiny figure—at 1.65 meters and 52 kilos, Takahashi looks like a Japanese Johnny Rotten—appears contorted with pain. Takahashi, the 33-year-old founder of fashion house Under Cover, is shaking his head, tugging on his "Nagasaki Nightmare" T shirt and bitching about the spate of anxiety dreams he's been suffering lately. In one, he's at an unveiling of his offbeat outfits when the models mutate into dogs. In another, his latest collection of hand-sewn jeans and vests entitled "Scab" morphs into a Uniqlo horror of unadventurous banality. In yet another dream he's watching someone's head, probably his own, melt. "It's been like this for months," Takahashi moans.

Our pop psychology interpretation? His anxiety stems from growing pains. Ten years ago, Under Cover consisted of a single store the size of a one-car garage in the backstreets of Tokyo's trendy Harajuku area. Today, it's a fashion empire stretching from Hokkaido to Kyushu. Takahashi has won just about every fashion award Japan can offer (last year he captured the prestigious Mainichi prize normally reserved for establishment figures like Issey Miyake and Junya Watanabe). Across the country, his fans faithfully line up outside his 31 boutiques, eager for the opportunity to buy a $2,500 dress or a $30 pair of socks. But to maintain his momentum, Takahashi must branch out into upscale markets overseas. His grand plan: by early next year, Takahashi plans to sell his creations in 16 cities, including Paris, Rome, New York, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Hong Kong. If consumers take to him, his reputation as Japan's next designer genius will be cemented. But failure will suggest he's just another local hero whose work couldn't transcend its parochial appeal. Through it all, he's struggling to sustain the punk/anarchist/anti-war/anti-mass media/manic image that makes him the icon of every angst-ridden teenager and 20-something in the chrysanthemum kingdom. "Life is beauty," says Takahashi with a smile that vacillates between gangster-like snicker and angelic beam. "But it's pain as well."

That's how it is with his designs too. In his latest line, launched at the Paris pret-a-porter collections last month, Takahashi takes the very Japanese idea of "deconstructed clothing"—garments torn apart and put back together in novel ways—and infuses it with a sense of violence. Jackets and pants are ripped to shreds, then stitched with loose red thread left dangling in a manner that suggests blood. Shirtsleeves are amputated and re-attached the way a wound would be sutured. The aesthetic nexus between beauty and pain obsesses Takahashi, and the collection is as viciously elegant as a pinned butterfly. "The essence of Takahashi's creations is maniacal," says Kazz Yamamuro, executive producer of Fashion Television Japan, "and very cutting edge." Takahashi's detractors disagree. They insist he's more of a fashion DJ, sampling patterns and designs from others and mixing them up to create his own street style instead of developing a unique vision. "Takahashi doesn't think about originality," carps fashion critic Takeji Hirakawa, "only about copying."

Five years ago that may have been true. But with age and experience, Takahashi's work is growing beyond simple expressions of rage and becoming more sophisticated and nuanced. His vision of fashion and his life has stretched beyond the limits of his Harajuku haunts and even beyond Tokyo itself. Extending his collection overseas has challenged him to adapt his designs for larger, more affluent audiences. "Now I am more of a designer than a DJ," says Takahashi. "I'm looking more to myself for inspiration."

With reporting by Michiko Toyama/Tokyo

[Charlie Delta]

Bedankt stadsgenoot!

[RobbertJan]

goeie shit man, we hebben meer nederlanders hier nodig!

ps to everyone: rep me, i need it.

[cHr]

Helmut Lang

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_n2_v34/ai_17520468/pg_1

http://www.booknoise.net/johnseabrook/stories/design/lang/index.html

[Uinku]

DUTCHIES UNITE!

btw, thanks for the articles!

[maxamillion]

thanks for the articles - good stuff!

[96st]

good post!!!!!!!!!!!

[RobbertJan]

Some more about Fiberops:

Fiberops is Tabo Kagaya and Alyasha Owerka-Moore. By some Fiberops is considered a cult street wear brand. It is driven by two extremely creative spirits who've made their mark on street wear business. Fiberops is a growing succes in Japan, with 60 outlets and a brand store in Tokyo, but is still '' underground'' in the rest of the world.

Q&A with Alyasha:

Q You are from mixed descent and live in both HK as well as NYC. What place do you you consider you hometown?

A My father was African-American and Cherokee Indian, and my mother Russian-Lithuanian. I was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. My mother and I moved to Brooklyn, NY, when I was seven years old. In 1996, I was offered a job working for DC shoes and moved to San Diego. Presently, I live in both Hong Kong and San Diego. I will always be a New Yorker at heart, but I consider all 3 places, Hong Kong, San Diego and New York my home.

Q How would you describe yourself in professional terms?

A I love design. I despise garmentos (i.e. textile dealers) and equate '' fashion gurus'' with griffons and unicorns (both mysthical creatures, ed.). I would describe myself as a jaded, cynical and left-handed dyslexic, who is lucky enough to earn a living doing something she loves, design.

Q You have worked in the fashion industry for many years now and worked for brands like Phat Farm and Mecca. Almost 3 years ago you and Tabo Kagaya started Fiberops. How and where did the two of you meet and why did you decide to work together?

A It's funny....Neither of the brands you mention are brands that I myself would ever use as a reference. American Dream Inc (a skateboard brand), Dub Brand Outwear, Droors, DC shoes and Alphanumeric are brands that are far more descriptive of my better work or work that I am proud of. But to come back to your question; I had heard many stories about Tabo from friends from all over the world who had encountered him at one point or another. I had heard how he had moved from Tokyo to Hong Kong to work as a commercial driver with his father. How he taught himself Cantonese and then English. How he was the first hiphop DJ in Hong Kong and opened the first skate/streetwear shop there and basically single-handedly introduced streetwear as we now know it to Hong Kong. A man who deserves and commands respect, yet was obviously astonishingly humble. Tabo and I finally met in Hong Kong through a mutual friend, Biran Siswojo, while I was working for Alphanumeric. We shared many views on life, business and design. Later, Tabo became Brand Manager for Alphanumeric in Japan. Needless to say that after travelling together for quite some time, we became good friends. Finally, when the time came, we both left Alphanumeric. 'What now?', we asked each other. Skateboarding had always been in our blood and always will be, but it was time to get out of the action sports arena. We figured it was time to do the thing we really wanted to do. No more '' fashion industry'' , no more inflated egos. We wanted our very own brand that was the result of our own mindstate and our rules, the result of which was Fiberops.

Q How are the roles divided at Fiberops between you and Tabo? And what is the main added value for you working with Tabo for Fiberops instead of working alone?

A Tabo Kagaya is operations manager and designer. Tabo handles all of the washes (denim), all of the accessories, some knitwear (sweaters) and some graphics. He will never admit to being a designer, because he was never formally trained as such, but in my eyes he is both a brilliant designer as well as photographer. As for the rest......He keeps all of us grounded and makes sure we see things in a realistic and strategic light. He keeps things running smoothly. In short: Tabo is the anchor, I'm creative director. I design, cut and sew products, a handful of graphics and basic direction of the brand. We don't have a design staff and neither of us have any formal design training. Basically, all you see every season, with the exception of a few T-shirts that are done by some friends, is done by the two of us. There is still a lot of work to do, but we are proud of it. The added value of working with Tabo is that we are similar in many respects and comeplete opposites in others. This keeps us focused.

Q Most businesses are not an instant succes. What was the worst moment with Fiberops? Or has Fiberops really been a smooth ride all the way?

A It has never been a smooth ride. I cannot tell you what was the worst moment, because that is all relative to the next worst moment.

Q Right. Was there a breakthrough? Or are you still waiting for this to happen? And do you look for a breakthrough with Fiberops at all?

A No, we're not looking for a breakthrough. We just want to create products that people enjoy and understand, and develop a steady business.

Q Fiberops is hardly known in Europe. It is called a cult streetwear label by some. How do you feel about that?

A A CULT BRAND?? Whoa! I think the reason one might consider Fiberops a cult brand is the fact that we are quite a small brand. We have three, maybe four, accounts in Europe. Not too many people have actually ever seen the products with their own two eys, and have only heard about it through friends or one of the many internet message boards. It is a bit like a white elephant and is surrounded by a bizarre sort of mystique. Or even cult, maybe.

Q What's the Alyasha way of designing? What charecterizes you work or way of working, or ev en way of looking?

A I am a big fan of design and detail. I despise superfluous seams, buckles, straps and other bells and whistles. Music, politics, skating, literature, travel, friends, booze and smut all inspire me. I put them in a mental blender and out comes Fiberops on paper. Then tangible products come into existence. I think most people have similar techniques.

Q You don't design woman's wear at Fiberops anymore. Why is that?

A We started to and still plan on it, but when we looked at our first women's samples which we were really pleased with, we sat back and thought: 'Are we really ready to launch this properly?' There were things at Fiberops that still needed fixing, and we thus wondered if it was wise to start something new before we had our main project running in a way that met with our expectations. We did not want to present it in a half-assed manner. So, we'll wait a while.

Q What about your shop in downtown San Diego: Ma+hlab. You created a private collection for that. What brought you to openening a shop?

A I opened Ma+hlab in the hope of introducing elements from all over the world to San Diego. Brands, books, magazines, toys, music, whatever. And also as another creative outlet, not just for myself, but for my friends. Ma+hlab had been opened just 5 days before 9/11. We had a great first 5 days. I had never beeen a retailer before and bought most of my stock outright. Due to the tragic events of 9/11, business was really bad for everyone. The first four to five months were terrible for us and by the time it picked up again, I had spent most of my savings trying to keep the shop open. I decided to cut my losses and shut it down after a little over a year. It became quite evident that design and retail are very different businesses. Well, at least for me.

Q Fiberops collaborates with companies like Nike, New Balance, Hong Kong SDU (toys) etc. What are the conditions a third party needs to comply with before you agree to a collaboration?

A Conditions? The projects we worked on with these people (Drew Greer and Jesse Leyva of Nike, Michael Lau, Eric So) are the result of the friendships we have with these people. Friendship is the only condition. Otherwise, there is no reason to collaborate with them. Obviously, I would lie if I said these circumstances do not have a positive effect on our work situation, but at the end of the day they were all brought about by our friendships.

c Code magazine winter 2005

[keska]

hollanders schtinke!

[fallen angels]

interview with Jun Takahashi in Theme magazine:

http://www.thememagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=115&task=view&id=154