If we look back at the origins of streetwear, we could say that it all started in the late seventies in California, through the cultures that derived from surf and skate. This style then reached in the eighties the East Coast in New York City, which then added to the mix elements from hip hop or the punk aesthetic that came from London; but the movement didn’t fully catch on until a few 20-something-year-old Japanese guys came to shake things up.
THE STREETWEAR OF HARAJUKU
For those of you who’re into streetwear, you’ll know of Japanese cult brands like the now-iconic Undercover and Neighbourhood, or the ones that specialise in high-quality denim, like Kapital, or the outdoor aesthetic like the emerging brands And Wander and White Mountaineering. And still, you might not be that aware of the history of Japanese streetwear from the neighbourhood of Harajuku in Tokyo, and that’s why we’re discovering the origins of this phenomenon that started in the nineties but is now more popular than ever.
It was in the mid-nineties when the neighbourhood of Harajuku, specifically the area of Urahara, which means the place that is behind or hidden when streetwear started to become especially relevant. By then, Urahara was only four blocks long, but it was the most groundbreaking district when it came to fashion, as it had many boutiques, some of which didn’t even have a name, with different styles, but they were all somehow connected to what was happening in the United States. Among them was Nowhere, which, as the name suggests, it was exactly that, a place that wasn’t really calling for attention, it survived from word of mouth, before the internet, as schoolboys would ask one another where they had bought their latest t-shirt or sneakers. Behind Nowhere was Jun Takahashi, who would later create one of the most influential streetwear brands, Undercover, and Nigo, founder of A Bathing Ape.
But what was the essence of Urahara? Why did it become so popular? Basically, it was about how these pioneers understood the subcultures that at the time were on the rise in the States and the UK, that were connected to skate, hip hop, punk or metal and the way they translated these so that the Japanese were able to understand them. Their unique vision on that which came from abroad ended up becoming their signature style. And that’s how slowly but surely other brands like Goodenough by Hiroshi Fujiwara came up, a friend of Jun and Nigo, that actually criticised traditional Japanese brands for not being good enough, as they used to focus on efficiency and quality over another important detail, which is style.
The Urahara movement won over so many people’s hearts that it would even reach the West by the beginning of the 2000s, and from there that’s when people started using the word ’streetwear’ to define that which would have been considered before that as underground. It would later become mainstream thanks to, in part, Poggy (one of the greatest spokespersons of Japanese streetwear) who stated that the neighbourhood of Urahara, as he used to know it, had died. And he might be right because the neighbourhood’s nothing like it used to be, but the culture and fashion that started there can now be appreciated all around the world.
