Undercover Spring 2023 Menswear Collection

Jun Takahashi considered some classics this season, shaping a menswear collection “that even as it fuses with the ordinary has the distinctive spice of Undercover”—at least according to the brief press note that came with this look book from Tokyo. Featuring the prismatic shaft of light from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album cover sometimes shooting across the models’ sunglasses, the look book shots began with zippered suiting, workwear suiting, and precisely shaped punk plaid streetwear.

That “distinctive spice” began to aromatically infuse the eye via separates with articulated cutouts featuring prints of classical sculptures depicting pensive-looking females in a state of deshabille. Then we drifted into the first figurative cultural samples of the season via T-shirts and shirting featuring lyrics from the band Can. A gray short-sleeve hoodie was printed with a stenciled headshot of Akira Kurosawa, then came a sweatshirt with a similarly delivered portrait of Tokyo Story director Yasujirō Ozu, and finally a red T-shirt bearing the image of the mighty Sun Ra. Sections of layered jersey, striped knits, and fitted workwear followed, then riffs of blue-collar uniform.

Everything so far did indeed bear that “distinctive spice” that Takahashi’s work emanates, but also—like the protracted intro of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”—served to preface the hook, the banger section, the main event. This was a series of pieces that will be the chief trophies of the season for Undercover lovers, and most especially we more elderly Undercover lovers. As prefaced by those light shafts earlier in the run, we saw various iconic Pink Floyd covers. The distorted cowhides from Atom Heart Mother came on a sweatshirt, the iconic image of Battersea Power Station (as it was) from Animals was on a full look any Londoner should covet, and then came a whole Dark Side of the Moon section. The last album referenced was Wish You Were Here, on a white parka you wished you could wear.