Ala Champ
 
00:00/

The Top 6 Art Sites To Visit on Japan’s Art Island

Art, Architecture and Nature Harmoniously Unite

MUNI

A Leading Dining Destination In Adelaide's Rural Township of Willunga

Celebrating Moroccan Craftsmanship

Intricate Details and Design at this Boutique Riad In Marrakech

LE CORBUSIER

Visit The Great Swiss-French Architect's Studio-Apartment, Restored And Open To The Public

AMAN KYOTO

In An Untouched & Secluded Private Garden in Kyoto, Find One Of The World's Best Hotels

Invisible Possibilities

Under The Theme of 'In the Presence of Absence', Desert X AlUla 2024 Enquires ‘What Cannot Be Seen?’

URBAN ZEN AT AMAN TOKYO

A Tranquil Sanctuary to Stay, High Amongst The Tokyo Skyline

Igniting Flavour by Fire

Adelaide’s First Open-Flame Restaurant Is One of The Top Dining Destinations in the Country

A Culinary Journey Through Taiwan & Beyond

Owner-Chef Richie Lin's Taipei Restaurant Remains Highly Acclaimed — And For Good Reason

Mt Fuji Dreaming

This Glamping Resort is Bringing Guests Closer to Nature

ISSEY MIYAKE SS24

Grasping The Formless: Satoshi Kondo's Spring Summer 2024 Collection

Imagination, Taste and Emotion

In Bali’s Creative Heart, Find a Poetic and Enriching Dessert Restaurant where the Menu Stems from their Own Garden

SHIROIYA HOTEL

24 Hours In One of Japan’s Best Art & Design Hotel Destinations

Terunobu Fujimori’s La Collina

Connecting To Its Surrounding Landscape in in Omihachiman, Shiga

SUBSPACE 2023

The 4-Day Event in Sydney Celebrates the Theme 'ON TRANSIT'

WHERE TO EAT IN PARIS

Seven Best Places & Spaces To Wine & Dine

UNDERCOVER A/W 22-23 Womens

Cold Flame: Designer Jun Takahashi Explores An Inner Rebellion With Punk Femininity In All Its Forms

March, 2022
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover

This season, UNDERCOVER‘s AW22 Women’s collection was presented again in Tokyo, with designer Jun Takahashi opting for the Kenzo Tange-designed 1964 Olympic Stadium Second Gymnasium setting the stage, providing a dramatic and demanding atmosphere in the acoustic-heavy interior.

Elegant yet dark, titled Cold Flame, the collection opened with six looks completely held in silence, followed by Charles Mingus’ 1963 improvisational classical-jazz piano piece Myself When I’m Real, to an operatic and celestial score from Klaus Nomi’s 1981 The Cold Song reverberating throughout the stadium. Designer Takahashi certainly had the world’s affairs on his mind noting “a punk rebel spirit with thoughts of peace” — with models wearing a badge featuring the peace symbol for the collection’s grey striped suited series.

The collection opened with strapless dresses and jumpsuits intricately constructed with zippers, paired with formidable spiked gold jewellery and completely darkened eye makeup, to visuals of razor blades and camellia flowers emblazoned on coats, and stunning cropped leather jackets embroidered with beaded Japanese motifs — cherry blossoms, camellia flower branches and butterflies. The cropped leather jackets — also abundant with zippers — featured in a series of bright colours that when unzipped, revealed a contrasting tone inside. This reinterpretation of the traditional biker jacket offered a powerful sense of individual semi self-customisation. That’s the Undercover woman, making her own way. Additional bold looks including blindingly bright gold jackets, and poised cropped grey suit sets, plus a favourite standout of sheer laced tops extending as face covers — so chic! Takahashi’s own daughter also walked the runway, modelling a red and green  Scottish tartan full look — opulent with a serving of attitude — and a puffed sleeve cropped jacket in all bead, no doubt hand-embroidered.

Takahashi has always committed to designing for the rebellious and confident woman unafraid to exude femininity in all its forms. In this collection, the puffed and accentuated shoulders, to spiked floral-embellished garments, only reflected the determined and strong Undercover woman. Paired with Takahashi’s unrelenting talent and design precision, the result is ever-unwavering. A truly stunningly-detailed yet subversively punk and pensive collection by designer Jun Takahashi who aimed to unearth the “cold rebellious fire smouldering deep within us.”

UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover
UNDERCOVER AW22-23 Womens © Image courtesy Undercover

Words: Joanna Kawecki
Images courtesy: UNDERCOVER

March, 2022