The Rock and Roll Circus at Undercover

The Rolling Stones recorded Rock and Roll Circus in 1968 on a BBC sound stage with an all-star mix including members of the Who, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, and Eric Clapton. On Friday afternoon in Paris inside an old circus-themed theater in the Marais district, Jun Takahashi of the SPACE brand Undercover played ringmaster with a direct homage to the landmark album.

undercover circus skirt

Here’s a link to the album on YouTube; feel free to stream it while you look at Takahashi’s runway carnival and music culture parade. Go ahead; the Undercover spring ’16 pieces are definitely meant to be experienced through the lens of jangly, ragged blues and a good old-fashioned Barnum & Bailey show.

The show ran through three tracks from Rock and Roll Circus, beginning with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” One by one, the new-world clowns marched out and acknowledged all four sides of the brightly lit stage. This was important, because everyone was there.

undercover bomber

undercover_bomberThis photo: InDigital Images

There were lots and lots of looks in the collection, so it’s probably wise to separate them into three acts. The first one was about Sgt. Pepper psychedelics and ravers in backpacks—but these backpacks are more like flak jackets; they’re full-torso (yet potentially very sexy) omni-access carryalls.

undercover_militaryThis photo: InDigital Images

undercover_dressThis photo: InDigital Images

undercover sargeant pepper
The second act included the most accessible looks and might be thought of as the Britpop scene; it had wear-now, seasonless trenches, light knits, menswear suiting. Winklepicker ankle boots and ultra-cropped skinny legs cued a ’60s vibe, and tough black leather fashioned with a paratrooper’s must-haves split the difference between punk and military.

undercover knit sack

undercover_girl suit
undercover_trenchThis photo: InDigital Images

undercover_blackThis photo: InDigital Images

As the show’s (and not coincidentally the album’s) last song, “Salt of the Earth,” came on, the circus energy was good and strong. The performers wore black and white Pierrot blouses complete with images of Mick, Keith and company, and later: layers and layers of tulle.

undercover jacket

undercover_pierrotThis photo: InDigital Images

undercover_yellowThis photo: InDigital Images

Takahashi has an eye for streetwear and a brain for engineered tailoring and materials that can really perform, and in his personal life he is an athlete and a rocker. (He was once the singer of a band called the Tokyo Sex Pistols.)

That’s a lot to bring into any one collection, but it was all here and it was all beautifully and imaginatively rendered.

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—Laura Cassidy



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