At the Paris Fashion Show in January 2024, Japanese fashion designer Jun Takahashi previewed his “Wonderful and Strange” Twin Peaks collection for Undercover. This officially licensed high-fashion collection included nearly 80 products with officially licensed images of iconic characters and places from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s world. Despite a small early release in mid-June, the entire collection was made available at Undercover location throughout Japan and via their online store, Undercoverism.com, on Saturday, July 27, 2024. Here’s a look back at the publicity and social media surrounding the Twin Peaks product announcements from July 24.
WHAT IS UNDERCOVER BY JUN TAKAHASHI?
Japanese clothing brand Undercover was founded by Jun Takahashi in 1993. Influenced by street culture, punk music scene, and Japanese and European fashion, Takahashi combines materials, cuts and colors to make unique, highly-coveted collections.
While the company has several branded stores throughout Japan and an online shop, you can also find their products in smaller clothing boutiques around the world. In fall 2024, Nordstrom added a small assortment from the “Wonderful and Strange” collection to their stores and online shop.
NEW ARRIVALS ANNOUNCED ON JULY 24, 2024
On July 24, 2024, the company officially announced Undercover’s 2024 Fall/Winter men’s collection, “WONDERFUL AND STRANGE,” would be available beginning Saturday, July 27 via their website, Undercoverism.com, beginning at 11:00 a.m., and at all Undercover stores in Japan.
The news article contained several products including this crossbody satchel with Laura Palmer’s face wrapped in plastic and bathed in a blue hue.
“Inspired by the TV drama ‘Twin Peaks,’ this collection expresses a dark and surreal atmosphere,” wrote the company. “Although the designs appear casual at first glance, intricate techniques such as jacquard weaving and embroidery are used to incorporate characters and iconic scenes from the drama into each item.”
Undercover’s Fall and Winter 2024 collection contained items with Jun Takahashi’s intricately detailed sketches embroidered or printed. Some model images (center above) would mix the Twin Peaks apparel with other new non-branded products.
However, the majority of social media posts and marketing materials for the late-2024 collection centered around Twin Peaks. Takahashi is a long-time fan of Lynch’s work and he identifies with the artist’s strangeness and views of the world. The “Wonderful and Strange” collection is a fitting tribute to the mystery the duo created in the early 1990s, around the time Takahashi was completing college and launching his clothing brand in Japan.
NEW ARRIVALS FROM UNDERCOVER – INSTAGRAM POSTS ON JULY 24, 2024
The company turned to social media to continue their “new arrivals” announcement with a series of posts on Instagram. Each image carousel posting contained the “Look Book” images from January 2024 captured by captured by Japanese photographer and visual artist Katsuhide Morimoto.
These images are obvious nods to the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department and the Double R Diner. There’s even a nod to the green mug seen at the Sheriff’s station throughout the second season (though it’s not an exact match as the series prop had more of a “D” shape for the handle). The jukebox is also not an on-screen match but I definitely applaud them for this homage.
The publicity shots were interspersed with product details including the now sold out Cotton zip-up pullover shirt (top) and the Cotton stand shirt (bottom).
The second post included several jackets, each with images pulled from the “Twin Peaks: From Z to A” Blu-ray collection. I immediately recognized the design after identifying the source image used for the packaging.
This is the complete image used on the box packaging which had embossed areas giving the texture to the trees.
The original stock image was taken by Roksana Bashyrova. It’s the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine, not the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Titled “Misty Mountain Landscape,” she used a Nikon D750 to take the photo (250mm | ƒ/6 | 1/160s | ISO 100).
The carousel contained the front and back of three models with a snow-covered forest backdrop.
The products were the Down Jacket (top two images), the sold out Mountain Parka (bottom left) and the Cotton sweatshirt hoodie (bottom right).
The third post contains one of my favorite items from this collection – a simple Cotton sweat pullover with the logo for The Great Northern Hotel.
I imagine this is apparel that would have been sold in the gift shop of the fictional hotel in Twin Peaks.
The carousel post contained two model images – one sporting The Great Northern hotel shirt and the other showing the front an back of the Nylon MA-1 Jacket.
The reversible jacket contains the iconic “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign spot found along Reinig Road in Snoqualmie, Washington (granted, the area looks different today so this jacket captures a moment in time when the show was new).
The final Instagram post for the Twin Peaks collection on July 24 includes a model wearing a Denim jacket with Laura Palmer’s face wrapped in plastic on the back.
The model is also sporting Bookhouse Boys-themed sweatpants. The blue rubber glove is a nice nod to what Killer BOB wears (though it was white in the series).
A second model is wearing a Denim jacket with an image Special Agent Dale Cooper holding his iconic tape recorder.
Sadly, both black Denim jackets – Laura Palmer and Dale Cooper – are no longer available.
BEHIND THE SCENES – INSTAGRAM POSTS ON JULY 25, 2024
The day after the “New Arrivals” announcement, Undercover shared a behind-the-scenes video on Instagram from the publicity photo shoot. According to the Exif data on the publicity images, the photos were captured on Dec. 22, 2023 using a Hasselblad HD6-50c camera.
Two days later, the entire “Wonderful and Strange” collection would be found in stores throughout Japan and online. See the Complete Catalog for this collection on Twin Peaks Blog.
