Nigo

[Misteraven]

http://www.time.com/time/asia/2004/heroes/hnigo.html

By Jim Frederick
Posted Monday, October 4, 2004; 21:00 HKT
Nigo never set out to become Japan's hottest fashion designer or an internationally famous arbiter of style, or to show young people how to rebel without losing their cool. But the fact that he is now one of the most influential movers and shakers of his generation—given how little attention he paid to cram schools, university examinations and the meticulous career planning that are still adolescent obsessions in Japan—does not strike him as particularly odd, either. In fact, he sees his focus on his passions, rather than on society's expectations, as the secret of his success. "I never planned too far ahead," says the 33-year-old, wearing a T shirt and jeans plus two necklaces and a giant watch dripping with hip-hop quantities of bling. "I just tried to do what I love and create the things that I wanted to create."

And what he has always loved to create is clothes. As a fashion student, magazine stylist and DJ in 1990s Tokyo, Nigo could never find exactly the quality-crafted, cooler-than-thou T shirts he and his buddies craved. So he started making them himself, selling them to friends and out of duffel bags at parties and DJ shows. The shirts were strange but playful, aggressively designed affairs, frequently sporting simian motifs and obscure echoes of the 1968 sci-fi classic movie Planet of the Apes. Produced in limited quantities, they quickly became the ultimate badge of street cred among the hipsters in the back alleys of Tokyo's fashion-obsessed Harajuku neighborhood.

Since then, Nigo has carefully nurtured his label, A Bathing Ape, into a cultural phenomenon by striking a fine balance between exclusivity and mass appeal. His grow-slow approach has enabled him to retain 100% ownership and total artistic control of the company, which now has interests in not just clothing and accessories but also music, art, cafés and hairstyling. Although his signature ape heads and camouflage patterns have appeared on everything from action figures and trucker hats to condoms and Pepsi bottles, the core fashion lines still come in tightly controlled production runs and are sold almost exclusively in Bathing Ape's own hard-to-find, frequently unmarked stores. When devotees do locate a shop, they are often greeted by lines around the block just to get in and subjected to limits on the number of pieces they can buy. Says Japanese neopop painter Takashi Murakami: "One of the things that makes him attractive is the sense of mystery he creates." This mystique has bestowed cachet on Nigo's clothes and accessories even among some of the West's coolest celebrities, ranging from New York City graffiti artist Futura 2000 to British hip-hop legend James Lavelle to the Beastie Boys. "Nigo is by far the biggest icon of Japanese fashion," says Jun Nemoto, fashion editor at the Japanese edition of GQ. "He's got an amazing aesthetic."

Success has transformed Nigo, who will launch a Bathing Ape store in New York City's SoHo district by next spring, into one of Japan's most potent symbols of a new entrepreneurial spirit and an inspiration to young dreamers seeking the courage to strike out on their own in a society where nonconformity is still disdained. But his role as a model, he says, is purely accidental. "I'm happy if I can be a positive encouragement to others to do what they want to do," says Nigo. Indeed, he sees the passionately led life as the key to business success and personal fulfillment. "For me, there is no boundary between fun and work," he says. "I guess I 'work' all the time, but I do not consider it work. I am having too much fun." Not just him, but his growing legions of devotees too.

[foulphil]

well, damn, the BAPE store will finally open in nyc. I know there are alot of haters, but Im pretty excited to see what they have in store.

Hopefully something a bit fresh! Most likely a lot of the same..

Originally posted by Misteraven@Oct 12 2004, 12:13 PM
http://www.time.com/time/asia/2004/heroes/hnigo.html

By Jim Frederick
Posted Monday, October 4, 2004; 21:00 HKT
Nigo never set out to become Japan's hottest fashion designer or an internationally famous arbiter of style, or to show young people how to rebel without losing their cool. But the fact that he is now one of the most influential movers and shakers of his generation—given how little attention he paid to cram schools, university examinations and the meticulous career planning that are still adolescent obsessions in Japan—does not strike him as particularly odd, either. In fact, he sees his focus on his passions, rather than on society's expectations, as the secret of his success. "I never planned too far ahead," says the 33-year-old, wearing a T shirt and jeans plus two necklaces and a giant watch dripping with hip-hop quantities of bling. "I just tried to do what I love and create the things that I wanted to create."

And what he has always loved to create is clothes. As a fashion student, magazine stylist and DJ in 1990s Tokyo, Nigo could never find exactly the quality-crafted, cooler-than-thou T shirts he and his buddies craved. So he started making them himself, selling them to friends and out of duffel bags at parties and DJ shows. The shirts were strange but playful, aggressively designed affairs, frequently sporting simian motifs and obscure echoes of the 1968 sci-fi classic movie Planet of the Apes. Produced in limited quantities, they quickly became the ultimate badge of street cred among the hipsters in the back alleys of Tokyo's fashion-obsessed Harajuku neighborhood.

Since then, Nigo has carefully nurtured his label, A Bathing Ape, into a cultural phenomenon by striking a fine balance between exclusivity and mass appeal. His grow-slow approach has enabled him to retain 100% ownership and total artistic control of the company, which now has interests in not just clothing and accessories but also music, art, cafés and hairstyling. Although his signature ape heads and camouflage patterns have appeared on everything from action figures and trucker hats to condoms and Pepsi bottles, the core fashion lines still come in tightly controlled production runs and are sold almost exclusively in Bathing Ape's own hard-to-find, frequently unmarked stores. When devotees do locate a shop, they are often greeted by lines around the block just to get in and subjected to limits on the number of pieces they can buy. Says Japanese neopop painter Takashi Murakami: "One of the things that makes him attractive is the sense of mystery he creates." This mystique has bestowed cachet on Nigo's clothes and accessories even among some of the West's coolest celebrities, ranging from New York City graffiti artist Futura 2000 to British hip-hop legend James Lavelle to the Beastie Boys. "Nigo is by far the biggest icon of Japanese fashion," says Jun Nemoto, fashion editor at the Japanese edition of GQ. "He's got an amazing aesthetic."

Success has transformed Nigo, who will launch a Bathing Ape store in New York City's SoHo district by next spring, into one of Japan's most potent symbols of a new entrepreneurial spirit and an inspiration to young dreamers seeking the courage to strike out on their own in a society where nonconformity is still disdained. But his role as a model, he says, is purely accidental. "I'm happy if I can be a positive encouragement to others to do what they want to do," says Nigo. Indeed, he sees the passionately led life as the key to business success and personal fulfillment. "For me, there is no boundary between fun and work," he says. "I guess I 'work' all the time, but I do not consider it work. I am having too much fun." Not just him, but his growing legions of devotees too.
Quoted post

[Nekro]

Sounds like a master stroke of marketing.

[Fabo 2]

bape is played out in tokyo

[sarcasm]

Originally posted by can of worms@Oct 13 2004, 08:24 AM
bape is played out in tokyo
Quoted post



but it ain't too played out here..... yet

[seeking]

oll boy has so much money its silly.
what else is silly, is that anyone gives a shit about this guys stuff. it's a fucking joke. success is 50% marketing 40% luck 9% being asian 1% design.

no thanks.

[hulk hogan]

fucking ice creams. ugly ass motherfuckers. i'd be damned to pay 300 for a pair of shits like that. son of a bitch

[BKLYN BASEMENTS]

REAL PEOPLE WHO APPRECIATE SNEAKERS LOOK RIGHT PAST THE NONSENSE BEING SOLD NOWADAYS...

[paint junky]

bape sucks, all the bullshit surrounding bape sucks... maybe if the designs were somewhat creative and not some crap i would support it, but they are terrible... the bape adidas were atrocious, whoopdy doo, bape laces, i swear people these days are sheep. this guy throws the word "bape" on anything and these hipster fags go bananas over it. i like what someone said above " success is 50% marketing 40% luck 9% being asian 1% design." so true...

[seeking]

that wasn't just anyone, homie, that was me. and i'd like to amend my original figures and alot 13% to being asian. i realize that this adds up to a total of 104%, but since asian people are smaller (on the average) than their american counterparts, it still equals out to being roughly the same.

[BKLYN BASEMENTS]

i swear people these days are sheep. this guy throws the word "bape" on anything and these hipster fags go bananas over it. i like what someone said above " success is 50% marketing 40% luck 9% being asian 1% design." so true...

lets just blow up williamsburgh and downtown manhattan... im sure that would solve about 78% of this crap.


otherwise its just supply and demand..

" the race is on but i wont compete.cause i have a greater mission... i hope that you listen......."

[slum]

Bape fell off like 5 years ago. Gorillas and snipers with nightscopes dripping paint is so english fashion clown.

[Fabo 2]

Originally posted by slum@Oct 14 2004, 08:20 PM
Bape fell off like 5 years ago. Gorillas and snipers with nightscopes dripping paint is so english fashion clown.
Quoted post



please explain what an english fashion clown is

[seeking]

i think he just did.
and if you took offense, there's probably a reason.
;)

[Fabo 2]

many things you can call me, but fashion clown is not one of them.

[dear sas]

who? post pictures

[The Hipster]

http://img71.exs.cx/img71/3176/19nigo5838fs.jpgSoHo Runs for Blue and Yellow Sneakers

By LOLA OGUNNAIKE
Published: December 19, 2004


It was not the chic designer dresses in the entrance of the Kirna Zabête boutique or the lingerie-clad mannequins of La Perla that stopped foot traffic on Greene Street in SoHo last Monday afternoon, but something a bit more, ahem, pedestrian: sneakers. Twelve pairs — in vivid, whimsical color combinations like robin's-egg blue and yellow and Baskin-Robbins pink and brown — were circling around in a storefront window on what looked like a miniature baggage carousel, and a small crowd of hipsters and tourists had gathered to watch.

"Those right there are the hottest ones," said one wide-eyed young man, pointing at a pair in lime green and black. He and his fellow gawkers were standing in front of the first American outpost of A Bathing Ape, the urban street wear chain that has been wildly popular in Japan for over a decade, the day after the store's opening. It was a scene that Nigo (pronounced NEE-go), the soft-spoken, 33-year-old designer behind the Bathing Ape line and Japan's reigning king of cool, had seen many times before. "They're like eye candy," he said of his creations.

The SoHo Bathing Ape is the 16th store in Nigo's ever-expanding empire, which began in 1993 as a hole-in-the-wall T-shirt shop in the Harajuku district in Tokyo and now includes clothing outlets across Tokyo and in Kyoto, Osaka and London.

Five years after Nigo started selling T-shirts, he began to expand his range, first opening a sneaker emporium called Footsoldiers, and then a burger joint called Bape cafe (Bape being the abbreviated form of Bathing Ape), the hair salon Bape Cuts and an art gallery. Four more Bape stores are scheduled to open in Japan in 2005, and there is serious talk of a Bape hotel. Time Asia recently honored Nigo with an Asia's Heroes award for being an "internationally famous arbiter of style." But judging from the customers that Bathing Ape continues to attract in Japan, none of this growth or attention — not even collaborations with Pepsi and MAC cosmetics — has put a dent in the brand's street credibility.

The T-shirts, hoodies and ball caps that first brought Nigo success, and that continue to be the staples of his line, are not particularly distinctive. (Many feature camouflage prints or the brand's signature ape head, but are otherwise quite plain.) But savvy marketing and the Japanese style of consumerism have worked in their favor. "Japanese culture is very ritualistic," said Alex Wagner, the managing editor of the music and style magazine The Fader and former managing editor of Tokion, a Tokyo-based fashion and art magazine. "They get hung up one thing and then it becomes this feverish race to get as many of those things as possible."

In Japan devoted Bape fans sometimes line up for hours to shop at Nigo's stores, which are unmarked and are intentionally made difficult to find, to buy clothes that he produces in carefully limited quantities. The feeling of exclusivity is heightened by Nigo's decree that Bape customers may purchase only one piece of any product, and that it must be in their size. "It's to help prevent people from selling the clothes on the black market," Nigo said in an interview through a translator early last week. But it is also a way to protect Bape from becoming a fast-burning fad. "I really don't want a lot of people wearing my clothes," he said.

He has relaxed the purchasing restrictions at his SoHo store, a two-story, million-dollar ode to minimalism that sells an edited assortment of sweatshirts, tees, floor pillows, accessories and limited edition toys. Judging from their prominent placement, it seems that Nigo is banking on the hope that his $180 Bape Sta sneakers, whose colors seem inspired by children's cereals, will be the big draw. The Bathing Ape line has long been popular with the international hipster set. And the colorful sneakers (which bear more than a passing resemblance to Nike Air Force Ones) began enjoying a bit of mainstream recognition last year, when rappers like Jay-Z, Cassidy and Pharrell started wearing them around town and in music videos.

"Everyone is feeling those shoes, white skater kids, the hip hop guys," said Clarence Nathan, the owner of Premium Goods, a specialty sneaker boutique in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, that has carried Bape Stas for nearly two years. "They have a universal appeal and they're selling like crazy." The cost of the shoe at the New York branch of Bathing Ape is significantly lower than the $275 to $300 that Premium Goods and other stores in the city have been charging (though higher than the prices charged for imitations on many Web sites). Mr. Nathan predicts that shoe sales at the SoHo Bathing Ape will be brisk, so brisk that he plans to stop carrying the line himself. The mystique that Nigo has cultivated around his brand has only been deepened by his reclusive nature. It is only after much prodding that he offers up his birth name, Tomoaki Nagao, and still one can't quite be sure if he is being entirely truthful.

But if he is miserly with his conversation, he is not with his money. Nigo's sprawling $30 million home in the fashionable Shibuya district in Tokyo doubles as a warehouse for his obsessions, of which there are many. Over the years Nigo, who is well versed in the art of conspicuous consumption, has collected everything from Star Wars action figures and Planet of the Apes memorabilia to Louis Vuitton luggage, Cristal champagne and American laundry detergent. ("I like the packaging," he said.) One room in his home holds all the Eames furniture he has amassed; another, the "Warhol Room" displays his 20 Campbell's soup silk screens.

"His home is the crème de la crème," said Pharrell, who this past summer started the sneaker line Ice Cream, a joint venture with Nigo for Reebok. "I've never seen anything like it. It's like a museum."

Nigo is similarly fond of jewelry and is partial to the designs of Jacob Arabo, also known as Jacob the Jeweler, hip hop's Harry Winston. "They're like artifacts to me," said Nigo, fingering one of the two diamond-encrusted crosses that hung from his narrow neck.

"He is one of my favorite customers," said Mr. Arabo, who over the years has, in addition to jewelry, created customized belt buckles, key chains and automobile hood ornaments for Nigo. "He is constantly challenging me to make newer, interesting things."

Mr. Arabo did not, however, fashion the diamond and platinum veneers that currently cover Nigo's teeth. For that the designer went to a Tokyo dentist. Nigo said his parents, a billboard maker and nurse from a small town, had no problem with his dental accessories. "If I had gotten a tattoo, that would have really upset them. In Japan a tattoo is associated with yakuza, the mob."

Growing up in Gunma, a province two hours north of Tokyo, Nigo fell in love with fashion in junior high school. While his fashion-forward friends were slaves to Vivienne Westwood's punk aesthetic, Nigo, a former D.J. and drummer, was decidedly hip-hop, favoring the baggy jeans, Adidas shell-top sneakers and ostentatious jewelry that by the mid 80's had become synonymous with the American underground movement. "The thing I love about hip-hop is that it is constantly evolving," Nigo said, "it's so free."

After graduating from Bunka Fukuso Gakuin, one of Japan's top fashion schools, he worked as stylist and fashion editor at magazines. He opened his first shop 11 years ago in Harajuku, Tokyo's equivalent of the Lower East Side. "When we first got there it was the quietest area of Tokyo," Nigo said, "and now it's one of the coolest areas in Tokyo."

Standing before a rack of leather bomber jackets, Nigo said he has absolutely no plans to move to the United States. "I have to be in Japan in order to continue to create Bape," he said. "In Japan, I get influences from America and Europe — the best of both worlds. That's Tokyo style."

[Coffie Crave]

crap crap crap. i let to much of this pass i gotta put my foot down...bathing ape or whatever the heck it is makes some pretty good looking clothing but at the same time alot of it is seen it before simple crud, its not all about design and its not all about fashion its all about hype...what one hypes about the other teenage mind is gunna want to get, my point plan tees with a simple logo for 1 buck is where u can put my point into veiw. prices wouldent be this high if kids didnt pay this much and fight over this stuff.


its hype over design 2005 shit


fuck them all

[My Pal the Crook]

Not rain on this parade of Hate, But Bape always has and still does 90% of the time come correct on Jackets. They're Overpriced, But they will ALWAYS have a few hot Jackets each season (and a few stinkers)

and Now back to the Hate.. They're Tees, jeans, sweatshirts, etc, etc are WAAAAAAy overpriced for what they are and for the most part do have very very very tired designs.

[Misteraven]

**edited**

keep discussion on topic. if you want to discuss A&F, or the differences in USA/UK fashion, start a new thread.

[Misteraven]

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/shoppi...openings/10734/ (http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/shopping/columns/storeopenings/10734/)

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/images/shopping/04/12/week4/brandimage041227_400.jpg
(Photo credit: Ryan McGinley)

The Storefront: Openings & Closings

Gorilla Marketing
Japan's cult clothing line comes to New York.
By Amy Larocca

In Tokyo, as we are always being reminded, the currency is cool, and A Bathing Ape is the gold standard. The clothing line looks, to the uninitiated, like standard big-jeans streetwear, heavy on the camo. To the faithful (who know it as BAPE), it represents membership in a cult brand that's spun off a record label, hair salon, cafe, and toy line in just over ten years. The secret? Exclusivity everything is limited-edition, and BAPE's Hong Kong branch is open only to prescreened members which produces rock-concert-style lines at BAPE stores and a resale market where a T-shirt can fetch $1,000.

Now BAPE has arrived in very above-ground Soho (212-925-0222). I don't want to promote or sell, insists founder DJ Nigo, who recently had his teeth covered in diamonds to match his $30,000 Jacob & Co. watch and Flava Flav throwback pendant. But, judging from the patient army of camo-clad kids who queued up on opening weekend, he will sell, and sell a lot.

Nigo looks much younger than he is (34) as he waves his gold-plated Vertu cell phone around like a talisman, explaining his love for hip-hop: I never understand what they're talking about, he says with a giggle, but the look is cool. (Hip-hop loves him back: Nigo collaborated on ber-producer Pharrell Williams's Billionaire Boys Club clothing line, sold at the store.) On success, Nigo is more reticent. I just want to see my things in America, he shrugs. I don't care if it makes money. Like all smart marketers, he knows that cool never declares itself.

[Misteraven]

a bit on the old side, but...

http://www.thescene.com.au/fashion/feature...3_3_19_427.html (http://www.thescene.com.au/fashion/features/2003_3_19_427.html)

A Bathing Ape
Wednesday March 19, 2003

With BAPE hotel wishes, BAPE Caf New York dreams, and a new London boutique finally a reality, A Bathing Ape creator Nigo is the next self-appointed fashion ambassador*** for trendy Tokyoites. But is the rest of the planet ready***for this simian-inspired lifestyle? Roland Kelts gets the answer from the man himself.

At 32, Nigo, designer, producer, drummer and DJ is still a bit of a boy-wonder. He's small, for one thing, in frame and in head-size, with a skullcap hiding his hairline and massive Ray-Bans encasing bulging wide eyes. He also slumps thoughtfully then jerks to attention, like a preoccupied teenager with a lot on the brain.

More boy-wonderish, however, is Nigo's hyperkinetic enthusiasm for his chosen obsession: transforming his homegrown street-wear***business into a worldwide empire. I don't consider my brand merely a clothing brand, he explains in a soft but certain voice. BAPE is a lifestyle company, including music, hair, even food. Everything you need to live. Tokyo has all sorts of brands. They have a boom period, then they subside. I don't want my brand to be dragged down, so***I need to diversify.

In the beginning

Nigo is the maestro behind BAPE (BAPE-ee), the clothing brand he launched 10 years ago, incorporating simian images and hip-hop-inspired fashions into the now-ubiquitous array of camouflage motifs that appear on clothes, accessories, furniture, action figures, buses, Pepsi cansand plastic tape. Nigo expertly cultivated his underground reputation by applying an age-old marketing tactic: limited editions. His hard-to-find, carefully stitched duds draw famously long lines to BAPE's Tokyo outlets, which themselves are hard-to-find, tucked into cul-de-sacs and often bearing no shop signs other than Nowhere Ltd., the name of Nigo's corporation, minutely lettered somewhere on the glass. In Tokyo's maze of oversized and often meaningless neons, Nigo found his niche with Nowhere.

Originally I took an underground approach, he admits, because in Japan, people want to believe that*** something is special. But also, he adds, breaking into a conspiratorial smile, I really didn't want a lot of people wearing my clothes.

The contradiction is revealing. Aside from the quality of the clothing (every BAPE T-shirt is expertly stitched, the ape-head logo often discreetly positioned on a small tag), what has made Nigo and his now diverse array of products such compelling presences has been their inaccessibilityespecially in Japan, the land of convenience, where 24-hr everythings ensure that you can always get what you want.

But a decade is an eternity in the worlds of pop and commercial culture, let alone the youth-fashion business in fad-mad Tokyo.***To avoid having his brand dragged down, Nigo has*** methodically planned his expansion to be all-inclusive, with*** lifestyle-oriented largesse. BAPE now boasts 25 outlets, including a BAPE CUTS hair salon, BAPE caf and gallery, a members-only store in Hong Kong, and a brand new boutique in central London, which opened in the Fall of 2002. There is also a record label,*** APE SOUNDS, which grew out of his collaboration with England's Mo' Wax founder, James Lavelle, and BAPE TV (now broadcasting on Space Shower for two hours on the last Sunday of every month). On the horizon: a New York outlet and caf next year, and someday, a Tokyo-based BAPE hotel.

The hotel is my dream, he says. It's a very difficult project, and it might stay a dream, but that's what I want.

Nigo limited

Diversification is textbook business management, of course, but Nigo's approach has been strikingly effective for one reason: the brainchild behind the most playful clothes on the planet has retained his rarefied underground status, despite marketing tie-ups with Pepsi, the odd TV commercial for Sony and World Wrestling Entertainment, and most recently, his bold reach across the dateline to appeal to Western consumers.

I guess I'm not interested in [developing business in] Asia anymore. Ten or 15 years ago, the previous generation was happy just purchasing goods from the US or Europe. But my generation wants to be the creative center. We want to make what's new right here in Tokyo, and spread it to the world.

Nigo applies a draconian hand to the scales of supply and demand. Customers are asked to purchase only one piece of*** a given product line, and only clothing that matches their*** sizes. This is partly to limit black-market sales. But it also preserves the aura of mystique that shrouds both the products and their hitherto media-shy maker.

Nigo has sustained this aura ever since the launch of the first BUSY WORKSHOP, a tiny storefront he opened in 1993. I wasn't getting paid in those days. I just did it for fun. He was freshly out of Fashion College, where he studied fashion editing, not design, and earned his keep as a stylist and editor for Popeye magazine. I still write today, because I enjoy it. But now I get to write about my own collections.

A true veteran of Ura-Harajuku, Nigo grows unusually nostalgic when discussing the old days. I have really good memories.***There weren't as many people in Harajuku back then. The*** store would close at eight, and all my friends would come around just to hang out and talk. We can't do that anymore. It's too crowded.

Clearly, Nigo is one of the key reasons why today's Harajuku is less like a salon than an overstuffed supermarket for fashion***victims. From the mid-'90s, Tokyo's hippest teens and 20-somethings began to go ape in every aspect, bearing Nigo's logos and motifs from head to toe, and toting his BUSY WORKS bags, incongruously featuring an ape head sandwiched between the circular signs for two of New York City's Westside subway lines, above the words, Transit Authority.

I love New York, he explains. It's on a different scale from any other city in the world. It's an inspiration to me. Nigo is also one of the top three collectors of Star Wars memorabilia in the world (just*** the old stuff), and, not surprisingly the fifth largest of Planet of the Apes mementos, and he visits toy shows in New York to get the goods onsite. Honmura-an, the SoHo soba*** eatery (with another branch in Ogikubo), and the celebrity-riddled Mr. Chow's in midtown are his favorite restaurantsbut he hopes to open his BAPE caf in decidedly funkier Chelsea.

I've listened to hip-hop since 1984, and I was*** always drawn to the New York style. It's my favorite city.

With pals and fans like superstar DJs Cornelius and Takagi Kan, Undercover designer Jun Takahashi, England's Ian Brown and Bob Gillespie of Primal Scream, Australia's*** Ben Lee, and New York's The Beastie Boys and graffiti genius Futura 2000 on his side, Nigo's rise has been as meteoric and influential as that of his adopted neighborhood. He debuted APE SOUNDS in 2000, with help from Lavelle and the Mo' Wax label, and serves as a producer/director***for his CDs, amassing numerous influences and musical talents***and blending Western hip-hop with an Asian collage-making***sensibility. (A kind of down-to-earth Beck, as one critic opined.)

James is a good friend and he loves Japan, Nigo says of Lavelle. He's a representative of London's new generation, the way I am a representative of Tokyo's.

Brand of nonsense

Nigo's opinion of the younger generation he claims to represent offers a rare insight into the philosophical paradox at the heart of his rising empire. The man who uses BUSY*** WORKS as a label is, in fact, quite busy. He describes*** himself as a bit of a loner who works all the time, though my work doesn't feel like work to me. I feel like I have a lot of free time because I love what*** I do.

when asked to comment on today's youths, the so-called freeters and the teeming masses of brand-crazed consumers who are his chief patrons, Nigo pauses and looks troubled, his brow lowering. The freeters like freedom, he begins, so they find whatever job they can get and move on. But there will be problems in the future. Even people around me nowthere are many who haven't got it together, who can't get going job-wise. I'm pretty negative about the future for them.

The very phrase that constitutes Nigo's BAPE logo, A Bathing Ape, has telling origins. It's from*** the Japanese expression: To bathe in lukewarm water' (Nuruma-yu-ni-tsukaru), and it's a comment on kids in Tokyo today. They're very shallow; they take things for granted, and they're not street savvy. It's sort of ironic for them to be wearing my clothing. I'm trying to show how they are incapable of being independent-minded. They have no plans, no goals, because they're just too comfortable. Like bathing in lukewarm water.

It's an irony apparently lost on those kids, who parade just beyond Nigo's back-alley offices and storefronts bearing his logos, motifs and labels while their creator buzzes with ideas and activity both here and abroad. To watch Nigo hovering over a conveyor belt of sneakers and shoes in one of his outlets, carefully positioning and repositioning the goods so that they gleam pristinely beneath soft-glow lamps, is to understand Nigo's admixture of lordly control and personal, hands-on engagement. Willy Wonka and the clothing factory.

I have a very meticulous personality, and maybe that's partly a Japanese trait, he confesses, citing his mother and father, a nurse and a billboard sign-maker respectively, as major influences in the development of his character, and DJ/Head Porter designer Hiroshi Fujiwara, a generation older and one of Japan's earliest hip-hop jockeys, as his business model. (Nigo literally means number two in Japanese; a Harajuku shopkeeper coined the moniker when he noted the physical resemblance between the two designers 10 years ago.)

One final irony: Nigo's obsessive, detail-oriented solemnity results in clothes that are most notable for beingfun. BAPE wear features surprises to delight a childlike curiosityuntuck a pocket in a pair of jeans and voila!, there's the tiny ape-head on the inner lining. Hold a short-sleeve button-down shirt sideways and stare into the camouflage for a few minutes: BAPE is spelled out, embedded in the pattern like a***Rorschach inkblot.

When I suggest that his clothes are like toys, Nigo nods approvingly. You know, they had Rockabilly style in the '50's, Mods in the '60's and Punk in the '70s. Obviously, I haven't risen that high yet, but I'd like there to be a music-fashion connection: Ape-inspired themes, images and sounds for an entire generation.

Heady ambitions for a kid from rural Gunma, who has clearly made good on his own goals: he now sports a shiny silver Bentley in the drive of his three-story Sendagaya office complex, showrooms and studios. Amid the BAPE wear Nigo himself dons, theres one item that stands out: a kind of jagged, cartoonish lightning bolt design in the form of a pendant dangling from his neck and an imprint in the side of his skullcap.

It's called the BAPE star,' and it's*** my symbolNigo, aka BAPE star, says Nigo, smiling broadly: I'm expressing myself with this. It's all about me.

[hyrax]

You wanna talk about shit clothes? Talk about Supreme.

Like someone mentioned, Bape has some nice jackets. Supreme's got JACK

[The Hipster]

Supreme do make the fresh box cap!

[My Pal the Crook]

while supreme's design quality has been suspect over the past few seasons... just like Bape they will always come correct with a few choice tees, that are always priced nice at $24.

and Supreme also manages a nice jacket or two per season! Oh and heads seem to love thir box caps, i'm not a cap wearing kinda guy, but some of them are indeed nice looking.

[imported_sofarok]

Pharrell Williams Hosts Store Opening of Nigo's A Bathing Ape - After Party - Arrivals (http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====95071&nbc1=1)

[Misteraven]

anyone have a password to that site so we can view the full size images?

[fr8lover]

look, the shitty thing about cool is that it's relative. if i saw this guy walking down the street in pink af1 ripoffs and a stupid ass pseudo-army futuristic hoodie or something on, i don't think my first thought would be, "this guy is soooo coool."

this dude was smart enough (i guess) to becoming a huge brand in one of the most consumer goods obsessed countries in the world. good for him. does that make him the "king of cool?" no. king of hip trendy clothing entrepeneurs, maybe.

[jo king]

MTV NEWS REPORT: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1495796/2...?headlines=true (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1495796/20050112/story.jhtml?headlines=true)

Kanye, Pharrell, Mos Def Celebrate A Designer With Sole

Hip-hop A-listers turn out for opening of A Bathing Ape store.
NEW YORK — It would seem a lot of people on hip-hop's A-list have a shoe fetish.

Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Mos Def, the Roots' ?uestlove, Common, Faith Evans, Clipse's Pusha T, Spike Lee and a host of other tastemakers and fashionistas braved the cold and rain Monday night to celebrate the opening of A Bathing Ape in New York's Soho neighborhood.

Launched by Japanese designer Nigo in 1993, A Bathing Ape is known for its one-of-a-kind footwear — brightly colored patent leather sneakers that resemble Nike Air Force Ones. The brand also sells a host of other products, including T-shirts, outerwear and home goods. Nigo teamed with Pharrell last year to launch the super producer's own fashion lines, Ice Cream sneakers and Billionaire Boys Club clothing (see "Want To Dress Like A N.E.R.D.? Pharrell Signs Fashion Deal").

"I'm just very thankful to be in business with a guy like this," said Pharrell, who hosted the event. "Without him, my BBC dreams and my Ice Cream dreams — none of those dreams would have ever happened. I told him my ideas and he made those things happen much in the same way he did with his own clothing line, and that's why I'm here to totally support it. It's his thing — it's A Bathing Ape."

Guests were treated to the sounds of ?uestlove on the turntables as they checked out shoes in a variety of colors and patterns — all featuring the signature BAPE sneaker star — against the store's stark white background.

Mos Def said he's been a fan of the line for years. "I like the attention to detail they pay to their product, and their enthusiasm. I also like their cleverness and wittiness. I appreciate them as a design brand — not just what they do with fashion, but with a lot of different products including home goods and underwear.

"It's in the same tradition of Dapper Dan," he added, referring to the clothier to old-school rappers like Slick Rick and Dana Dane. "It's just revising something that is dominant in the culture and putting your own spin on it. It's very much in the spirit of what hip-hop is as a culture, so it definitely strikes a chord with us."

For Common, who said he didn't currently own a pair BAPE sneakers, the line is all about that next level of fashion.

"It's just real progressive and, in a way, it's that cutting edge, hip stuff," he gushed. "It's also a movement. I haven't been over to see all the stuff they have in Japan, but from what I have been told, Nigo and A Bathing Ape has a lot of different things that are good items to have — stores and everything. Also, what Pharrell is doing with Ice Cream, I've got to support that because he's always coming with something fresh, whether it's music, style or whatever. I'm going to get some free ones and I'm going to support."

[seeking]

Originally posted by jo king@Jan 25 2005, 06:51 AM
"...Nigo and A Bathing Ape has a lot of different things that are good items to have...I'm going to get some free ones and I'm going to support." -common
Quoted post


?!?!
anyone want to play a round of 'how fucking dumb is common'?
fuck mos def too. that guy is annoying as shit. and talib kwali. the only cat mentioned that doesn't induce vomiting is quest love, and im not sure how long he'll be able to keep his pass if he stays in that circle.

i know all of that is off topic, but none the less... i'm getting increadibly sick of this pathetic game of 'follow the leader' that's being touted as 'cutting edge fashion'. no, cutting edge is doing something that is untested, not finding some guy, trusting that everything he shits is gold, then dick riding whatever pops out of his ass.
it seems that the only people who are honestly 'original' and 'being themselves' are the people who don't even pretend to give a shit, and just wear whatever their girlfriend buys for them, or whatever the manequin is wearing at the gap. following trends is fine, but acting like you're not just a follower is playing yourself.

caring about what other people do is also playing yourself.
working for the man is playing yourself.
caring about what other people do while working for the man is not playing yourself, because in this instance two wrongs somehow form to make a right.

seeks/fuck yeah!

[H. Lecter]

Nigo is such a herb,
you people are discussing a pee-on
that's good for nothing but writing checks...

[jo king]

found this....


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...3948098402&rd=1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=57988&item=3948098402&rd=1)

[Misteraven]

Ape Can Be Killed

Even though Nigo’s A Bathing Ape (BAPE) brand has been getting more and more mainstream coverage around the world — boosted by the new shop in New York — things aren’t looking so good here in his homebase of Tokyo. Long gone are the early-morning lineups of BAPE-heads and instant sell-outs of stock from a few years ago. You barely see anyone wearing BAPE anymore, and now this: I was in Aoyama earlier today, and stopped by the Bape Cafe only to find the sign gone, with a tiny message on the locked door explaining that they had closed down for “certain reasons.” Hmmm… Love the brand or hate it, the Wonderwall-designed interior was quite nice.

http://www.gridskipper.com/travel/tokyo/re...lled-037390.php (http://www.gridskipper.com/travel/tokyo/restaurants/ape-can-be-killed-037390.php)

[Misteraven]

official website launched: http://www.bape.com

[BLUD]

:haha: :haha: :haha:

BTW Seek, whats being asian got to do with being successful? Stussy, Supreme, X Large, Milkcrate are all Yank brands which are worldwide and much more successful and commercial than Bape.

You hate on Staple Designs? cus thats owned by a Asian too right?

:clown2:

[The Hipster]

http://www.pigmag.com/images/stories/people/2004/09_settembre/nigo/nigo_07A.jpg

Nigo is young at 32, a DJ, a producer, a drummer and a fashion designer. He’s also made a fortune from his Japanese clothing brand: A Bathing Ape® (which is apparently a common Japanese expression for “bathing in lukewarm water”, a term describing the comfy and well-off lifestyle of today’s youngsters in Tokyo.) Since he started ten years ago, he has transformed the people of Tokyo into monkey maniacs. All over the city Simian images now appear on T-shirts, caps, trousers, accessories, consumable goods (most notably Pepsi cans) and more.

Through twenty five outlets, a hair salon, a café, a members-only store in Hong Kong, a brand new boutique in London and millions of Japanese that would do anything to have his monkey printed on whatever they can get their hands on, Nigo has dominated the underground street-wear scene of the densely populated Tokyo.
He is now set to conquer the US and “maybe” Europe.
How did a 22 year old manage to forge all this from nothing? Through age-old marketing tactics: exclusivity and hard-to-find garments. And in Japan this approach proves more fruitful than in any other country.
When we went to his house to meet him we were unprepared for the spectacle we were to find. It is truly a dream house, too extravagant for even the highest budget Bond movie. You find super-cars that emerge from a wooden-floored garage on high-technology car-handling robots; a room full of dolls, decorated with personalized Gucci wall-paper; from one room to another you find every Star Wars character, life-sized, Andy Warhol paintings, an amazing selection of toys and mysterious memorabilia – he alone knows where they all come from. We recovered, took some shots then asked him a few questions.
Very introverted and reserved, Nigo answers in tight Japanese slang (hard to grasp, even for the Japanese translator). After spending two days beside Hide, who helped us decipher his speech, here is what Nigo had to say:


When did you start developing an interest in fashion?At 12 my parents bought me a pair of Levi 501’s and some white Adidas Superstar sneakers. At the time I wasn’t too bothered, but later I discovered a magazine called Popeye & Olive. One day I read an article about Tokyo and they spoke about the best shopping areas. From there I developed an interested in 50’s fashion and music, which at the time was very trendy in Tokyo. I liked Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. At the same time a Japanese band called the “Checkers” broke through; I liked the way they dressed, Rockabilly style; but until 18 I used to always wear denims and white sneakers.

http://www.pigmag.com/images/stories/people/2004/09_settembre/nigo/nigo_04A.jpg

After 18, what trends did you follow?
When I turned 18 I discovered Run DMC. I was wearing my Superstars, just like them, and thanks to them I got into Hip-Hop. I liked the Tokyo bands, and would dress like most of them with “Bontage” trousers (Scottish-Punk), a Vivienne Westwood style. I’d mix American styles into European all the time. I used to go to Tokyo at week-ends to see the Vivienne Westwood store in Ameyoko (a district of Tokyo). I also used to go to Harajuku where there was a store called Astoarobot – a classic underground fashion shop where you could find Punk and Teddy Boy stuff.
I was so keen, that every weekend I used to commute all the way from my house (in the outskirts) to Tokyo to see what was new. I loved what the shop assistants wore, with their worn denims and T-shirts, “Engineer” boots (biker’s boots like Red Wing) and Indian jewellery by Goros. That was my favourite style.

So, aside from fashion, did music influence the trends you followed?
At 16 I got into DJ culture. One day I when into Akihabara (a district of Tokyo famous for computers and electronics). I wanted to get some DJ decks, but they were too expensive. I couldn’t buy two so instead I got one. I went home, linked it to my hi-fi and taught myself to mix.

When did you move into the centre of Tokyo? After school?
Yeh, I moved when I was 18. I wanted to become a fashion journalist. I enrolled in a fashion college wanting to specialise in fashion editing. That’s where I met Jonio, the designer who started the Undercover brand. Jonio introduced me to a lot of influential people like Hiroshi Fujiwarea, DJ and designer for Head Porter. And the MD of Astoarobot, the fashion store, who thought I looked just like Hiroshi so he started calling me “Nigo”, it’s a Japanese word for “number two”. I didn’t go to school very much. I used to go clubbing with them every night. I felt lucky just to know them and they turned out to be crucial for my future.

What were you planning to do after college?
I wanted to live in Tokyo. I found a part time job in the Popeye & Olive editorial office. They put me in charge of a part of the magazine and I was earning very well. Japan was going through a strong economic period and people were doing well in every sector. I was well paid so I didn’t have any problem finding somewhere to live in town. Then I met a girl called Hitomi Oukawa at Popeye & Olive and she gave me a job as a stylist. At the same time Jonio and I were looking after a section of the magazine on fads and underground sub-culture. It was at that time (’92) that Jonio said to me: “why don’t we open a shop with exclusive clothes?” So on the first of April ’93 we opened a shop in Harajuku. We called it “Nowhere”. Two times a month I would set about sourcing garments for the shop. It became a store where friends came to hang out – we didn’t really look after the customers coming through the door, but we were selling well anyway. (He laughs.) Shortly afterwards, Jonio and I felt the bought-in garments weren’t selling enough, so Jonio said: “Let’s stop buying garments from other brands and create our own.”


A Bathing Ape®. Where does the name come from?
I was spending my evenings with my friend Shin, when one evening we were watching a TV program called “Yo!! Rap City”, I told Shin that I was going to start a clothing line. Shin suggested we start it together. We thought more about it and one night we saw a movie called “Planet of the Apes”. We liked it a lot. So much in fact, the next day we met up and decided to take some inspiration from it: we called our new brand A Bathing Ape®. Shin was good mates with Kuyamada, the lead singer of a famous band called Cornelias. We gave him a T-shirt to wear at his gigs and he did, so more and more people started to get to know our stuff. At the time we used to produce about 30 T-shirts a batch. We’d give half to friends and we’d sell the other half. We carried on like that for two years, producing very few of them, giving away half and selling half.

http://www.pigmag.com/images/stories/people/2004/09_settembre/nigo/nigo_05A.jpg

At the time Futura and Stash created garments with you. Was this the first partnership you were involved in?
One day Futura marched straight into our office and said “I want one of your jackets.” Then, one month later, Stash appeared too. He came in, gave us a drawing and told us we could make a T-shirt with it if we wanted. Shin and I were really excited. We’d already spoken about partnerships in the past, and when I’d discussed it previously with Shin we had already considered them because we liked their stuff. After the initial meetings we became friends and decided to open another shop together called Nowhere Limited, which would sell their T-shirts as well as ours.

These days you appear in all these fashion magazines and the editors of top publications all use your garments for reports. You’re very famous. What do you make of it all?
We’re very concerned about the position of the brand. A lot of our friends who went into fashion or opened shops have closed down. These days everyone has a Macintosh and anyone can produce T-shirts. That’s why we decided to diversify, doing stuff like getting into exhibitions.

There are many well-known street brands in Japan. Why do you think Bape® is the number one?
In 2000 we did some work with Pepsi Cola. It was our biggest project at the time. We were both very happy about the deal. They welcomed my ideas and I listened to theirs. When Pepsi cans started appearing with my mimetic design applied to them it was unbelievable. I was so happy. I had no idea they’d be that successful. After that Pepsi asked me to join a project working on their cola bottles with various other brands but I refused. I didn’t like the idea of my brand being mixed in with the others. Anyway, these days partnerships with other brands are everywhere, but we were the first ones to do it. People nowadays don’t get it. They don’t understand the real reason behind a brand partnership.


You opened a hair salon, a café and an art gallery. Why not just garments?
It’s my lifestyle. I don’t want to do just garments. I don’t want to have a clothing company – I want to have a lifestyle company. It’s very simple. I wanted a comfortable lifestyle. Now I have that lifestyle and I have everything I want.
But here in Japan some people bad-mouth A Bathing Ape® because it diversified. This doesn’t happen outside Japan, so within five or ten years I want to be successful abroad too. That way no one will dis me here any more.

http://www.pigmag.com/images/stories/people/2004/09_settembre/nigo/nigo_06A.jpg

In 2003 you had your tenth anniversary. I hear that in the New Year you’ll be opening in the US. It this true? What will you be doing?
I’m having a jewel made in a jewellery store called Jacob the Jeweller in New York. Loads of celebrities go there like Jay-Z, Mariah Carey and Pharrell (N.E.R.D.). Their pictures are on the walls of the store and mine too now. Some people are curious and ask who the guy is in my picture – and that’s how Pharrell and I met. And Jay-Z wears my sneakers at concerts. Anyway, we became mates. Pharrell told me that he wanted to create a clothing line, so together we created the Billionaire Boys Club (BBC) brand like Louis Vuitton did with Marc Jacobs. Pharrell is the designer and it’s good publicity for me.
As well as BBC, DUB magazine (a top men’s lifestyle magazine in the US) put me on their front page so many artists got to know me and started wearing my sneakers. Even a song by Jay-Z talks about “Ape Kicks”. America’s a massive opportunity for me.

Are you considering Europe? Will you open over here?
I’ve already gone to London. I also opened something in Italy, but I think Europe is a difficult market. There isn’t a proper street-wear culture. America influences everything, but I wonder what people in Europe would think about it. I love Gucci and the clothing resulting from the partnership between Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs. It’s all very intriguing, but for now I’d rather concentrate on America.

You also are a famous collector, from Star Wars to Planet of the Apes, from Vuitton to Eames and Warhol.
I love collecting. I love Charles Eames’s vintage furniture. I have the real Star Wars sword and lots of life-sized characters from Star Wars and Planet of the Apes. The original ones! They have to be originals and in excellent condition. I also collect American detergents. I’ve been like this ever since I was a child. It’s in my blood. When I find something new and interesting, I drop the last collection and start a new one. This happens when I sketch garments too. Right now I’m into Versace furniture. It’s very rare in Japan and not very well known. It’s nice – makes me feel very cool.

What is Nigo’s future at A Bathing Ape®?
Opening the store in New York and transferring over the image the brand has in Tokyo. It’ll be a shop kids won’t be able to afford that easily – not like the shops in shopping centres. Ape is high quality. Our sneakers can cost up to $450 US. These days the US is a bit like Tokyo was a few years ago. I tell you, ten years ago in Tokyo people used to queue up in front of shops to buy Nikes. That’s what it’s like now in the states. I’m really curious to see what things will be like in the US in another ten years time.
There are other things too. Pharrell and I are about to open a shop selling the BBC brand. This will make two shops over there, though the BBC one will have more of a “Pharrell” imprint. I’ve learned a lot from him and he’s given me a lot of new ideas. I often create shapes and fabrics based on what he does. I’m really happy but we’ll see how it works out. Personally, I’m positive about it. I’m very lucky (he laughs) and when I look to the future I still see street-wear. If this is the way fashion goes, then A Bathing Ape® will do well and though I haven’t really given it much thought yet, there is a chance of coming into Europe too.


http://www.pigmag.com/images/stories/people/2004/09_settembre/nigo/nigo_01A.jpg

[The Hipster]

http://www.pigmag.com