Serenity, groundedness, and a connection with the cultural and elemental were all sewn into this Undercover Spring / Summer 2022 collection by Jun Takahashi. It was christened ‘Once in a Lifetime’ in honour not of Talking Heads, but to reflect the translation of a key adage by the 16th-century tea master Sen Rikyū. He redefined the Japanese tea ceremony around the concepts of wabi (deliberate simplicity in daily living) and sabi (appreciation of the old and faded).

Thus between sky and sea, the designer worked via the medium of clothing to reflect the philosophy delivered 400-ish years ago by Shukō through the presentation of tea. Fashion and sabi seem directly oppositional—and indeed the only literal fade here was discernible in the wash of denim—but among the hats, robe-coats and geta-evolved flip flops, Takahashi included old forms of dress that have faded from the contemporary. Equally, his commitment to wabiseemed to be stretched by the inclusion of graphics in the style of Ogre You Asshole, the quaintly-named Japanese rock band, but perhaps these could be thought of as a kind of calligraphic gesture.

• Spring / Summer 2022
  
• Packable
• 100% Nylon
  
• Made in Japan

*This item is on final sale. It cannot be exchanged or returned.