Virgil Abloh

One for the Japanese streetwear connoisseur’s, Bape is a loud and very recognisable brand that was built upon this idea of exclusivity and high demand low stock ideals. Dating back to the early 1990’s, it has always operated under a luxury ideal that not everyone should have it, but everyone will want it. Born out of the streets of Harajuku and the brainchild of Nigo, a multi-faceted cultural icon, we’ve seen Bape expand in to the music industry as well, with Bape Records. But is Bape quite a controversial pick? It’s well know that it isn’t what it used to be, Nigo left in a shock announcement back in 2013, after starting Bape Records and secondary lines like AAPE and BAPY, focusing on lowering price points and targeting different consumers.

“Since Nigo sold 90 percent of his stake in 2011 and left, Bape’s collaborations have made less and less sense. Amazon, Angry

Birds, and Minions were all head-scratchers. Several additional rappers have aligned with the brand, making the partnerships less precious.”

An article berating Bape since Nigo’s departure in 2013 (Servantes, 2020), but shows how personal the brand was to him in terms of he had to be there to make it work, which is part of the reason for the original success, his personal signature and work within the brand.

Bape will forever be synonymous with their coveted Shark hoodie and Bapesta sneakers, that well looked like Nike Air Force 1 knock off’s (because they were). Like I’ve mentioned, Bape was built upon the basis of making low amounts of clothing and making sure the streets knew about it, using his knowledge of American hip-hop and culture, Nigo curated a brand that in Japan, was something completely new and unique that people hadn’t seen before. In the 90’s this access to other cultures was a lot harder than it is now, so having a brand that showed an acknowledgement of American culture was something that really boosted Bape’s place in the streetwear world.

Bape was most of an Pacific brand, sharing between eastern Asia and America, hence why it’s probably not on everyone’s radar in Europe. I think something that halted it’s progress in the last decade was when Nigo left, the brand seemed to slow down in terms of opening new retailers, especially in Europe, the brand seemed to settle with where it’s at, in terms of accessibility, it is available in the UK and worldwide, but I think it got left behind in terms of where the likes of Balenciaga, Off-White and UNDERCOVER went. The reason we keep Bape in the conversation is the cultural importance and how this brand shaped Nigo’s career, during and after he left Bape. Even though Nike’s roots aren’t necessarily within streetwear, their impact on the streetwear world has been everlasting with sneaker silhouette’s and collaborative pieces that will go down as monumental in the fashion industry. Started as Blue Ribbon sports back in 1964 and renamed Nike Inc in 1978, Nike has a rich history in sportswear and has graced different sports all around the world, supporting and signing some of the biggest sports men and women, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Jordan and Serena Williams. This has seen them work on sneakers and apparel for decades, reaching many different market levels and audiences.

In terms of streetwear, Nike have worked with some of the biggest brands around, such as Off-White, UNDERCOVER, Stussy and Supreme, showing how they can turn their hand to pretty much any type of collaboration, be it footwear, apparel or accessories. Nike have many lines that have donned some of the coolest players in the game, the Air Force 1, which debuted in 1982, was the heat on the street and guess what, today it still is. Their iterations of the Nike Air Max, building on creating a perfect sneaker, balancing technology and style, this is one of Nike’s biggest USPs. Having access to technology is one thing, but having access to creating something advanced and new is another thing, putting money in to paving their way as forward thinking, outward facing innovators and constantly using this to challenge other big brands and companies to be better.

Something that is important is accessibility, no good having a quality product if no one can wear it, but Nike are all about having great quality and sharing it round for everyone to take part in. Available at most high street retailers around the world, Nike are a brilliant base for a streetwear uniform, from all white sneakers, to quality essentials and casual sportswear, they have a selection that overshadows anyone else within the scene. Creating some special and sharing is what Nike do, and will continue to do because they have a loyal fanbase that know what they’re getting when they consume it and they know it’s going to be good.

“Believe that voice that says you can run a little faster, and you can throw a little harder. That for you, the laws of physic are only merely a suggestion.”

We’ve looked at the streetwear scene as a whole, but within streetwear, conceptual streetwear designers like Craig Green and Yohji Yamamoto, that aren’t necessarily mainstream in terms of a wider audience, but have made moves in terms of changing traditional streetwear and bubbling up mainstream fashion. This type of fashion tends to be a more creative and outlandish design, that influences lower market levels, from luxury to bridge and high street.

Creating conceptual streetwear has always had an artistic narrative or deeper meaning to it, oppose to an outwards facing narrative, we see inspiration taken from many areas of life, like we’ll discover further in to this chapter. The purpose of this is to look at how we can transcribe this in to the metaverse, and re-write how we view conceptual streetwear and make it in to something that feasibly cannot exist in the real world. Streetwear has multiple market levels and the upper market levels are occupied by brands like Off-White and Supreme like we’ve looked at, but one of the major brands/ designers on the conceptual level is Craig Green, a British designer that came on to the scene in 2013 and has since won awards ranging from British Menswear designer of the year in 2017 & 2018, and the GQ Menswear fund prize in 2016. Green’s work has often been seen as art and has featured in installations in the Metropolitan Museum of Art China, (Davison, 2022).

Craig Green is known for his abstract shapes, patterns and materials, creating new silhouettes from the traditional themes we’re used to seeing. Craig Green’s website quotes “Though known for their dramatic and deeply emotive qualities, his collections are firmly rooted in the steady development of simple, yet rigorously considered signature garments such as the Worker Jacket.” (About, 2022). This quote also goes along with the narrative of the workwear coming back into fashion in recent years, Green’s work has a trickle down effect on the industry with many brands taking inspiration from his unique style.

Craig Green’s collaborations include an ongoing partnership with Adidas that is one of their premium collaborative works, with sneakers, accessories and apparel ranging from £50 to £300+ for these products. This collaboration has made Adidas silhouettes in to more conceptual shapes and creations, this in turn, has had an knock-on effect with Adidas themselves in to continuing this trend within their own lines and products.

Throughout his career, Green has gathered inspiration from many topics and items including camping equipment, food packaging, religious uniform, the Afterlife and exercise machines. As someone who studied at Central Saint Martins, Green has always had a more conceptual approach to his work, after admitting he wasn’t necessarily set on being a fashion designer, but he thought he’d give it a go and under Louise Wilson’s guidance, here we are now… 29

One of Japan’s best streetwear designers, and designers in general is Yohji Yamamoto, a graduate from Bunka Fashion college in Tokyo. Born in 1943, he graduated and curated Japanese fashion with the likes of Junya Watanabe and Rei Kawakubo, this became a golden age and a major turning point in terms of a culture clash between Japan and the rest of the world.

In the early 1980’s Yamamoto took to Paris to partake in Paris fashion week and open his first shop. This was a huge step and part of that culture clash at Paris Fashion Week 1981, “The contingent of Japanese designers…have relinquished neither their favored colors, black and white, nor their unconventional shapes for fall…they have maintained their high level of innovation and creativity in textiles.” (Foley B. , 2010). This was referring to how the press in France reacted to their monochrome approach to fashion, focusing on silhouette and a more labour and working class narrative, calling the collection Terminal fashion, named after people waiting at Bus depots and bus stops.

Since this, Yamamoto has gone on to influence fashion all over the world in his home country of Japan and in America also, stocking both his main lines Yohji Yamamoto and Y’s in high-end department stores by the time 2007 came around. This has won him many awards over the course of his career.

His style is described as avant-garde and spiritual by many, using a multitude of interesting textures and styles to create his work, as quoted from an article talking about his career…

“Yamamoto’s loose, flowing silhouettes and ubiquitous use of black further enhanced his groundbreaking work, which became the favored look of the 1980s urban aesthetic.”

A section of Fashion history talking about Yamamoto’s early career (Mears, n.d.)

Yamamoto has worked with a plethora of collaborators such as Adidas (Y-3), Hermes and Mikimoto, whilst also working with artists such as Tina Turner and Takeshi Kitano, these collaborations show the variation and flexibility of Yamamoto within his work, whilst from previous experience, his work with Adidas is very Yohji and definitely has trickled down and taken a lot of influence from his personal work.

New Codes Intention

This book was an accumulation of information and research in to streetwear, and where I think streetwear as a whole stands as an industry, looking at mainstream streetwear and conceptual streetwear equally as these are both areas I want to delve deeper in to, in terms of looking at consumer how they consume and why they consume and how this might change from generation to generation.

The intention for this information was to inform myself and underpin the streetwear world I will talk about throughout my project, looking at how we can use the trends and key points that travel throughout these successful brands and turn this in to something that can support my following work. These trends include looking at how brands have successfully navigated in to social media in recent years and can we use these methods for transcending in to the metaverse? For example, Palace have nailed a personal but high quality front on Instagram, with a mix of more informal and personal stories and replies, but still have everything a professional brand needs to have a presence on the platform.