Undercover
Scab
Jun Takahashi
Why it matters
Takahashi's Paris Fashion Week debut — made possible by Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe, who pre-briefed the press — fused crust punk aesthetics, ethnic fabrics, and post-9/11 anxiety into a collection that closed with models in multicoloured burqas: a genuinely shocking finale that silenced the room. Kawakubo's verdict — 'The only one with courage' — is the most significant endorsement in the archive. System Magazine's interview with Takahashi and Akaibu's scan archive document the collection's canonical status.
Defining looks
- 01Ethnic crust pants and backpack
- 02Crust punk blazers with layered fabric strips
- 03Bell boots
- 04Multicoloured burqa finale looks
- 05Scab-patterned garments with gauze-like layering
The argument
Ask where to start with Undercover and the room splits: Scab or Witch's Cell Division. Scab is the Paris breakthrough, the burqa finale, Kawakubo's 'the only one with courage' — the case that this is the canonical entry is the case for impact and endorsement. We tier it Monster for exactly that. The dissent says the pre-Paris Tokyo work (Witch's Cell Division) is the truer Takahashi, before the world was watching. Scab is where Undercover arrived; the argument is whether arriving is the same as being best.