Undercover Womens F/W 2010 - Paris

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[anatomicut]

oh...no
is it real undercover?....

[Faust]

From style.com

PARIS, March 6, 2010

By Nicole Phelps

Jun Takahashi hasn't put on a proper sit-down fashion show in three seasons. Being away from the big stage that long has gotten him thinking about the perversity of creating two separate collections, an editorial one for the runway and a more sales-friendly one for the showroom, so this season he decided to do just the latter. The clothes he's made for Fall are firmly rooted to real life—so firmly, in fact, he hired his wife, Riko, to model them in front of projections of everyday scenarios like the grocery store, the street corner, etc.

Takahashi wears a leather watch printed with the words "Less but better," and that continues to be his mantra. Coats, for example, are made from as few separate pieces of fabric as possible, while jackets are reversible, with fleece, that everyman fabric, on one side and silk on the other. He hasn't abandoned luxury entirely: Another jacket that looks like fleece is in fact sheared sheepskin, and his olive-drab fatigue shirt comes in washed silk. Still, the wittiest elements of the collection poke not so subtle fun at the trappings of wealth: a Globe-Trotter trolley suitcase whipped up in nylon, a Birkin made from colorful, outdoorsy backpack material.

It can seem a bit disingenuous, or at the least like he's jeopardizing his own livelihood, when a designer starts preaching an antimaterialist message as Takahashi has—his nylon eco bags read, "Not buy unnecessary things." In this case, though, there's a certain logic at work. With his focus on T-shirts, jeans, and sporty outerwear, the Undercover operator is simply pushing this season's emphasis on practical chic to the limit.

Fine, but how many people would buy this at retail designer level? No wonder rumor has it that the company is on the brink of failure.

[zamb]

Maybe its time for him to come from under the cover..............

[jogu]

idk , for bein easy to wear street stuff its not bad . he just needs to stop chargin like $900-1000 for relatively casual lookin garments

[lowkey]

New guy here (been lurking a long time), maybe not the the perfect place to post my first post, but I figured I might as well jump right in...

This is definitely a let down after his previous collections. Although I admire his philosophy. And I DO spot some wearable pieces.

It's just the whole vision I used to admire is lost. The first thing that popped to my head was "meh", the second was "his wife is cute, good for him" the third: "padded vest with fur lining, lame".

Where is the boyish playfulness? The surrealism? The darkness? All I see is clothes I would expect to see on the subway. Maybe that's what he wanted with the presentation, though.

Oh well, meh.

EDIT: I just realized that my name of choice was not the best, considering Lowrey is almost identical. Can't win them all.

[pierce]

He's definitely trying to say something with the above presentation.

I was listening to a discussion on the radio this evening between a panel of leading feminist thinkers. The main gist of what they said was that the movement had been hijacked to a certain extent by business, which again tends to male dominated. Women were freed from the home only to be enslaved again by consumerism.
I think Jun is a true thinker and is maybe dealing with the elephant in the room that most other designers won't acknowledge.

[chicblood]

oh...no
is it real undercover?....

+5



MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Servo2000]

It may not be his intention but I find it impossible not to read an influence of the way that the consumer is re-injecting and subvert "fashion" (or depending on how you look at it a new way to collude with it) via WAYWT / Lookbook.nu / and so on... The "oh, these grapes?" downplaying of image construction the faux-'dailyness.' Constructing (literally projecting, even)"your own" image through someone else's prism on a stage.

[bonejelly]

i've always found that there was quite a disconnect between the presentation of the garments and what ends up on the shelves. my personal attraction to undercover has come from the former.

that being said, i agree with jogu that the pieces look nice but the concept clashes with the price...unless i'm missing something. regardless, its an interesting step back.

[Tyro]

I really like this presentation. I think you can still clearly see these are his clothes, and many of these pieces could be styled into more runway friendly looks.