One of the first brands to follow this path was Number (N)ine, a dark label that revolved around the references of its elusive creator, Takahiro Miyashita; cinema and music. The name, Number (N)ine, comes from Revolution 9, an experimental piece by The Beatles. Turned into a cult brand, Number (N)ine’s style hid references to American independent cinema, grunge and punk establishing a bridge between the designers who approached streetwear and who kept their view on small-town American, separating itself from the style that is usually associated with Urahara.
TAKAHIRO MIYASHITA TEAMS UP WITH CONVERSE
In the eternal debate about the origins of fashion as we know it, Tokyo takes up an unquestionable place. The nineties popularised Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jun Takahashi (Undercover) or Nigo and it brought young people who placed Urahara as the centre of emerging culture to the world of fashion. The point in common was a mixture of local references and an admiration towards Western subcultures. Reinterpretations of punk, hip hop and club culture built from style: skills came after.
In 2009, Takahiro Miyashita abandoned Number (N)ine. Instead of sticking with being in charge of a recognisable brand, he preferred to solely be in charge of a new brand that established its differences in its name choice, TheSoloist. If Number (N)ine was a band, The Soloist was a personal project, minimising the differences between Miyashita’s ideas and the final result. The references are still inalterable and equally as dark. Don’t expect obvious references nor elaborate explanations that describe the origin of each collection.
Following the actions of other Japanese brands, Takahiro Miyashita has collaborated with Levi’s, Visvim, Kazuki Kuraishi or who used to be his mentor, Undercover’s Jun Takahashi (they even ended up presenting collections together at Pitti Uomo). The latest brand to approach TheSoloist is Converse, who follows the lines of his latest collection, inspired by the work of Charles Peterson, a photographer known for his work for Sub Pop that made the image of Grunge well-known. TheSoloist chooses the Jack Purcell, a sneaker that is related to grunge, to which he adds zippers, memories of the American flag (although not only in its colours) and a wink to Nirvana in the sole that works as a link not only to his collection but to the countercultural universe of TheSoloist.
