This Spring/Summer 1996 collection from Undercover, easily named 'Under The Cover', welcomes us into the young creative mind of budding designer Jun Takahashi. The book was created along with the collection and gives us a brief look at drawings Takahashi had made in order to design and produce the garments. He used monster-type figures you would see in horror movies as models for the collection. The book shows us behind the scenes photos as well as detailing how the masks and characters were created. The cenobyte-type figures seem as if they are trapped in some colorful prison or hospital and all wore clothing that matched the design of their complex features. The color blocking walls surrounded the figures, sometimes posed with objects and small environments, as if each were in their own cell. 

 

The details of the clothing and costumes are exaggerated by the style of lighting used for the images. 'Under The Cover' was one of the first times the designer had used costumes and monster-like figures in his runway pieces. This Undercover collection was pivotal for the journey for Jun Takahashi during this time, as he reimagined what defined the runway and what the models should look like. This encouraged him to continue bringing his highly original and artistic ideas to life, something that allowed him to stand out among a crowd in many of his later collections.

​

​

Writer: Khan