Levi's Rebirthed UNDERCOVER Grails in Denim & on Flea
Levi's and UNDERCOVER's second collaborative collection is very much a Levi's and Undercover collection. Rooted in Levi's inimitable indigo denim, the capsule is stylistically informed by UNDERCOVER heritage.
This is because, as innovative as Jun Takahashi's UNDERCOVER is, much of its contemporary output is informed by its past. This is especially true with its menswear, as it often references extant motifs, but is even the case with Takahashi's personal artworks, which tinker with conceits he first put forth in clothing. (his womenswear, meanwhile, remains pretty impossible to generalize)
Take the Levi's x UNDERCOVER jacket, for instance, which updates the prototypical Levi's Type II trucker with zippers that allow for detachable styling.
This is an homage to UNDERCOVER's Fall/Winter 1998 collection, "Exchange," one of the favorite collections of Kim Jones, Dior creative director, which introduced transformable "Small Parts" garments. Except this time, the base is Levi's denim, and not just regular ol' Japanese denim.
Takahashi continued producing transformable "Small Parts" pieces throughout the years, so this piece could be considered less of a remake than a continuation, if you'd prefer.
Items from this nearly thirty-year-old line are still coveted by UNDERCOVER collectors to this day, as much as they still are (it's been a while).
Other throwbacks include jackets and T-shirts printed with a retread of the classic GIZ pattern (sometimes called "Giza") and a cropped graphic of someone's eyes, presumably playing off of another UNDERCOVER trope. As for the Baggy and 501 jeans, those are just pure Levi's, with UNDERCOVER 'tude coming through in the prints alone.
Oh, and the entire collection is modeled by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, and photographed by his daughter, Clara. So if the archival angle isn't enough, well, there's that too.
It's all available on Levi's website, Levi's app, stores, and the UNDERCOVER site on January 18.
