Will the Real Number (N)ine Please Stand Up?
Number (N)ine, the pioneering Japanese clothing line, is back under original management. After 15 years without founder Takahiro Miyashita back at the helm, Number (N)ine is once again heading in the right direction.
Shame about that Supreme collaboration, though.
Eugene Rabkin of StyleZeitgeist was first to notice that Miyashita, who only just departed his previous endeavor, TheSoloist., was following a new Number (N)ine account on Instagram, one with the title of @numberninebytakahiromiyashita. Even though the page had thus far only uploaded imagery of text phrases like "ORIGINAL" and "BACK, I MISSED YOU," its claims were pretty clear.
Shortly after, a PR representative sent Highsnobiety a release linking to the new page as confirmation of its legitimacy on Sepembter 9, or 9/9.
The difference between Number (N)ine and Number (N)ine by Takahiro Miyashita is almost too vast to be put into words.
After evolving his oeuvre from Ura-Hara graphics to complex reconstructed tailoring, Miyashita sold off Number (N)ine and its parent company in 2010 before decamping to TheSoloist. Shortly after, Number (N)ine's new owners brought the brand back to life as a shadow of its former self.
Under Miyashita, Number (N)ine was a revolutionary blend of streetwear and artisanal finesse so forward-looking that its genius couldn't yet be fully grasped by a wider audience for almost another decade. Meanwhile, the Number (N)ine of the past decade and a half has turned out pretty ordinary fast-casual grunge fare.
Occasionally, it'll even repurpose some of Miyashita's original designs, as it did with a surprise Supreme collaboration announced mere weeks before Miyashita announced his retrieval of Number (N)ine.
According to Rabkin, Miyashita was none too pleased about the Number (N)ine x Supreme partnership, not least because it gave the impression that he had anything to do with it (he did not). It's not immediately clear whether or not the other Number (N)ine will cease operations, be folded into Miyashita's reborn imprint, or continue along as a separate entity.
But there is a key distinction between the pantomime Number (N)ine and the one of his own creation, underscored by Miyashita's use of words like "ORIGINAL."
Whereas the modern Number (N)ine is a pale imitation, it was once the tip of the menswear spear, bold and singular. And under Miyashita, perhaps it will be once again.
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