A BLOG featuring Bernhard Willhelm is proud to present this series of images originally published in TOKION Japan in October 2006. Curated by our friend and contributor Cyril Duval, photographed by Wataru (a frequent collaborator with UNDERCOVER’s Jun Takahashi) and featuring Také Hirakawa, this series is an ode to the wider ‘A World’, and the myriad of creative connections that exist within it. We also have an exclusive portrait of Cyril and Bernhard shot by Asa in 2006.

Read below as Cyril unravels the story behind the pictures.

“Back in the days, when I was running TOKION Japan (R.I.P), I introduced myself to fashion curation and invited my friends and collaborators Bernhard Willhelm & Jutta Kraus to invade this format for a ‘Bernhard by Bernhard’ special story. Thereby, it was treated in similar conceptual & aesthetic ways than the one we developed for the Bernhard Willhelm Tokyo flagship boutique.Today in collaboration with A Blog Curated By, we are very happy to exclusively republish those.”

Concept, styling and direction: Bernhard Willhelm & Jutta Kraus
Photography: Wataru (eightpeace)
Installation: Bernhard & Jutta, Asa & Cyril. special featuring by Take Hirakawa.

Curated by item idem. Edited & published by Cyril Duval in TOKION Magazine in october 2006.

Japanese journalist Také Hirakawa is one of the stalwart players of the international avant-garde fashion scene, having been a fixture in Tokyo, Antwerp and Paris for many years as a critic and highly regarded creative mind in fashion. Aligning himself with a topsy-turvy universe of both European and Japanese designers, Take has championed the likes of Jun Takahashi and Bernhard Willhelm alike over the years.

For NºB, Také proposed an illustrated editorial featuring a musical ‘last supper’, with artist Ludivine Billaud rendering twelve pop stars in pencil, wearing the latest pieces from designers such as Comme Des Garçons, Raf Simons and Dries Van Noten. The rather irreverent take on the classic Biblical scene seems to fade in and out on itself, with the composition trailing across three pages in various states of completion. The pairing of the musicians with each designer and outfit is rather left of center also – whoever thought we would see Iggy Pop in Dries Van Noten?

Featuring:

Madonna in Viktor & Rolf

Mick Jagger in Raf Simons

Tina Turner in Balenciaga

Cyndi Lauper in A.F. Vandevorst

Iggy Pop in Dries Van Noten

Marianne Faithful in Jurgi Persoons

Rod Stewart in Yves Saint Laurent

Bruce Springsteen in Dries Van Noten

Patti Smith in Comme Des Garçons

Lou Reed in Paul Smith

Michael Jackson in Hussein Chalayan

Prince in Stephan Schneider

David Bowie in Comme Des Garçons

Welcome to the world of Bernhard Willhelm, a playful wonderland of colour and darkness, of subverted historical and pop cultural references translated through fetishist sportswear, oversized volumes, flashy colours and surprisingly explosive prints.

Ever since the creation of his own brand in 1999 (in association with Jutta Kraus), the young man, born 33 years ago in Ulm (Wurtemberg), has created a fantastically beautiful and completely-off-the-wall universe.

In 1998, graduating from the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Bernhard Willhelm passed from being assistant to Walter Van Beirendonck, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Dirk Bikkembergs. In September 2002, he settled in Paris. Parallel to his collections, from 2002 to 2004, he successfully directed the italian house of Capucci where he launched their first Prêt-à-Porter collection. His other achievements include a retrospective of his work organised in 2003 by the Ursula Blickle Art Foundation in Germany, alongside the publishing of his book at the Lukas & Sternberd publications in 2004. In 2005, he designed school uniforms for the orphans’ aid association, Misericordia. He also received the ANDAM Grand Prize as the most promising talent of the new creative scene.

Invited as the second curator of Walter Van Beirendonck’s project, Bernhard created NºB with his intense personal signature – a mix of the comically sexual and the quietly natural, with a through line of intellectual prowess that translates through an unexpected pairing of images, objects, people and art. Featuring contributions from Jutta Kraus, Take Hirakawa, Luc Tuymans, Wolfgang Tillmans, Inge Grognard, Gert Jonkers and many more quirky, artistic friends.

To view Bernhard’s magazine online – click here.

NºB will be followed by:

NºC featuring Hussein Chalayan – July 2010

NºD featuring Olivier Theyskens – August 2010

NºE featuring Viktor & Rolf – September 2010

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xNrvUUgDoI[/youtube]

Welcome to Nºb featuring Bernhard Willhelm – the second installment of the original A story.

In an honest and candid statement, Japanese fashion journalist Také Hirakawa told A BLOG CURATED BY his thoughts on Jun Takahashi, and the latest UNDERCOVER show that took place during Pitti Immagine in Florence in June. We were able to catch up with Také in Paris for the mens shows, and he provided us with these insights:

“Thank you for asking my point of view of the Under Cover show in Pitti Uomo for A MAGAZINE.

The Under Cover show was such a great show for me, I had the feel of very modern industrial design of the street mode & his idea of creations behind his clothes had so much products design skill, also.

Because, he had selected & used such great Japanese hi-tech modern fabrics & organic fabrics, all together.
The fresh fabrics have each both texture & functions, his design in this season, how they are used to join or mix those special fabrics for his idea of silhouette that is so fresh & such a new idea of fashion design.

What’s the new creation of fashion at the moment?

For the future, this answer is the fabrics, only.
Which fabrics can be chosen & selected for the human body that are not only outside design details? Yes, this is the same idea of real cuisine ways.
The fabrics & human body are a new point of relationship for fashion creations.

Each fabric has quality, texture & functions for the human body.

How to produce the new fashion clothes means that’s the point of idea & skill of Industrial design, too.

So, Under Cover’s designer Jun TAKAHASHI he know that, already then his collection was so intelligent street mode, that’s so cool!!
And his designed all garments can wearing, very comfortable!
That’s also very great.

The new concept for casual mode is “Care & Cure”.
That’s coming, already.

Do you know Dr. Dieter Rams?

After the show Jun told me about his collection, and he said this show had homage to Dr. Dieter Rams.

He was products designer for BRAUN Co., in end of 50′s.

He said, “Less is more & very useful.”

I thought like an Under Cover collection had given so much jealousy to other western designers.

Thank you so much Jun!!

I was so happy & given the positive forces.”

_________________________________

Many thanks to Také Hirakawa for his contribution to both A MAGAZINE CURATED BY JUN TAKAHASHI, and this new text for A BLOG CURATED BY.

Following UNDERCOVER’s impressive menswear defilé around the fountain of Neptune, guests scaled the gravel path in the Giardino di Boboli up to the top gardens that overlooked the Palazzo Pitti and all of Florence. With expectations of little more than a prosecco and salad, we were greeted with the majestic sight of a multitude of Jun Takahashi’s Grace dolls posed in a great pine tree, their larger fellows standing below.

above: the pine tree filled with grace dolls.

The dolls stood up to a metre tall, with their lace gowns and jewels covering warped kangaroo-like bodies composed of metal framing and cut-up teddy bears! Each doll is completely unique, a variation on the eerie theme that Jun has been exploring for many years in doll-making, and that is his hobby and personal interest aside from fashion. 

The dark stage that stood 20m from the doll tree burst to life as Jun Takahashi and two assistants arrived to begin the creation of a Grace doll. In a flurry of sewing, cutting, and screwing nuts and bolts, the three men worked for almost an hour as the doll took shape in front of our eyes – from a pile of teddy bears, metal bars, light bulbs and wiring. 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8vClelGUfM[/youtube]

Kan Takagi and Atsuhiro Ito accompanied the performance with their electronic punk improvised soundtrack, even utilising a fluorescent light bulb as a musical instrument. This added to the buzzing atmosphere, and the lack of ambient lighting drew our eyes straight to the violently industrial display. The ripping of teddybears and the wiring and sewing ultimately created an eerily romantic and solemn artwork, its single eye blinking soft orange light, the body illuminating the soft folds of it’s vintage lace dress.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8-c5Gq3qKo[/youtube]

As the doll was left standing alone on the stage, its creators standing to the side admiring their work alongside the audience, a 20-metre projector screen sprang to life with a stunning animated film of the grace dolls created by Jun Takahashi and the UNDERCOVER team. We hope to bring you the video in the coming days, but below are some sneak preview still shots:

“TAKAHASHI trusts

all that he feels to the reality of the street”              - Také Hirakawa

“ART owes its position as high culture to its original power

to drive the interest of the masses.” – Diderot Essais sur la peinture

“TAKAHASHI never had a punk idealogy; he just sought a punk experience

as a direct reality”                 -Také Hirakawa

“THE Takahashi collection presents aesthetic nostalgia                                                                                   and a pure vision of the future in concert.”                                                                                                                            - Také Hirakawa

“FASHION dies young, and it is that condemned look that gives it nobility”                                                                                                  -  Jean Cocteau Le Grand Ecart

One of Japan’s premier fashion journalists Také Hirakawa ponders the world of UNDERCOVER.