Undercover, Spring/Summer 2003 'SCAB' collection: gothic drama, political shock, fluorescent chiffon burkhas. Jun Takahashi's Undercover label was shaking up Japanese fashion all over again. But the young designer was more than just the latest prince of darkness: his twisted designs contained a finely tuned message of the times.

Takahashi made his Paris debut in October 2002 with the Undercover Spring/Summer 2003 Collection titled 'SCAB'. It was just as motivated by current affairs and global ethnic diversity as it was from the darker sides of life, his usual source of inspiration. The unsuspecting press were treated to an inimitable presentation that saw gothic-influenced, hand-sewn patchwork jeans teamed with full-length draped headscarves, while the standard Harajuku girl accessory of a cute teddy bear turned out on closer inspection to have a bolt pierced through its head.

Jun is both outspoken in his views and unafraid to make clothes with little obvious commercial appeal - a rare commodity in fashion. Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo calls him, "The only one with courage." 'SCAB' created a new excitement about Japanese design that had not been equaled since Kawakubo's own debut more than two decades earlier.

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Writer: My Clothing Archive