Jun Takahashi, Master of the Material Mix-Up
Review of Undercover Fall 2024 Fashion Show
By Mark Wittmer
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
THE THEME
The idea of combining “high” and “low” fashion, luxury and streetwear, is so familiar these days that it can be hard to remember that when Jun Takahashi burst onto the Paris scene in the mid-90s with Undercover, he was doing something that felt visionary and new, and doing it incredibly well. But collections from the designer like today’s Fall 2024 show remind us that, though hybridity is everywhere in fashion today, he’s still one of its preeminent masters.
Every look is effortlessly cool and chic; every silhouette is perfectly proportioned in such a way as to belie the meticulously innovative approach to construction that characterizes every hybrid garment. But a closer look reveals the incredible detail and consideration that is going on here. The material categories are familiar wardrobe staples – denim, knits, wool suiting, leather bombers – but they intersect in imaginative, impeccably constructed ways that would feel totally avant-garde if they weren’t also so instantly wearable.
THE BUZZWORDS
Hybridized. Layered. Accessibly avant-garde.
THE SHOWSTOPPER
Look #35
One of three couture-level hybrid looks that closed the collection, this stunningly layered riff transformed a classic cable knit and jeans combo into a scintillating and ethereal embodiment of fashion’s progressive possibilities.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
Exploding the boundaries of garment categories, fabric possibilities, and what can be worn when and where, Jun Takahashi shows us that originality and wearability can coexist, that the avant-garde can feel effortless, and that the greatest luxury in fashion is to not be confined by luxury.
