10 Unmissable Highlights from #NIGOExhibition

NIGO began collecting vintage clothing as a teenager, and this Levi’s Type II denim jacket is the first collectible item he bought. Sought after by denim aficionados around the world, the Type II denim jacket was only produced between 1953 and 1962 – a nine-year period which saw the garment cross over from workwear staple to symbol of youth culture and rebellion, worn by a new generation of American stars (James Dean, Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley). Drawing upon this association, 1950s American styles became very popular with Japanese youth in the 1980s, when the adoption of Western styles also became a form of rebellion against traditional Japanese values.

NIGO found the jacket in a vintage shop in Tokyo in 1986, when he was 15 years old. He spent 38,000 yen on it – around £180. When he brought it home to his mother, he lied and told her he’d only spent a tenth of that, but she was still very upset he’d bought something so old and damaged. “It’s probably the most upset I’ve ever seen her,” NIGO has said of the incident. The jacket is now one of NIGO’s most prized items within a world-class collection of vintage clothing, specialising in early 20th-century American workwear and denim.

Sukajan jackets, also known as souvenir jackets, are a fascinating example of American and Japanese styles coming together. Their origins are in the American military occupation of Japan following the Second World War. American GIs stationed at the Yokosuka Naval Base (‘Sukajan’ is a contraction of ‘Yokosuka jumper’) began commissioning Japanese craftspeople to make and embroider flight jackets for them to commemorate their tours of duty. As such, they often feature embroidered maps of Japan or Korea, as well as military insignia and orientalist motifs like tigers, dragons, or floral arrangements. Some rare, early examples use upcycled kimono fabric or parachute silk. Often, their styles are reversible.

NIGO has multiple sukajan jackets in his collection, including three early examples on display at the Design Museum. One of these uses nishijin-ori, a rare form of silk, and has a map of Mount Fuji; another commemorates the proclamation of Alaska as the 49th American state, and features embroidery of huskies and sleighs on the arms.

NIGO moved to Tokyo in 1988 and immersed himself within the city’s vibrant nightlife, subcultures and creative community. Within five years, he’d started a magazine column and opened his first shop, Nowhere, along with a university classmate, Jun Takahashi. Only a few months after that, he launched his first fashion brand, initially called A Bathing Ape In Lukewarm Water, later shortened to A Bathing Ape or BAPE. Legend has it that NIGO stayed up all night with his friend, the graphic designer Shinichiro Nakamura, nicknamed Sk8thing, watching a Planet of the Apes marathon, and that this acted as inspiration for BAPE’s early branding and designs. Sk8thing designed the logo for A Bathing Ape and some of its earliest T-shirt designs, including this one. Known by collectors as the A-Bomb T-shirt, it’s the fourth T-shirt design BAPE ever released, and like all the early BAPE designs, was produced in a very limited run.

The designs’ scarcity only contributed to hype and desirability, becoming incredibly sought after by those ‘in the know’. The T-shirt’s tag features a grey photograph of a 1980s boombox – a feature seen only on the very earliest and rarest BAPE designs.

By the late 1990s, BAPE had gone international. One of its most avid international fanbases was in London, where NIGO had strong connections to the scene via his friends and collaborators Toby Feltwell and James Lavelle, of the record label Mo’ Wax. Initially only available in very limited quantities through the shop Gimme 5, A Bathing Ape opened a London boutique in 2002, and this neon sign hung pride of place in the shop. It was designed by the architectural practice Wonderwall, whom NIGO worked with on his shop interiors from the late 1990s. Wonderwall’s use of neon, alongside stainless steel surfaces and futuristic, minimal designs, gave the shops a more high-end and futuristic vibe, reflecting the elevation of so-called ‘streetwear’ from its DIY roots into the luxury sphere.

BAPE’s rapid expansion throughout the 2000s wasn’t just geographic – this era also saw the brand branch out into unexpected areas of operation. NIGO oversaw the opening of BAPE Gallery, BAPE Café, BAPE Kids and BAPE Cuts (a hair salon), as well as hosting large-scale live music events. One of the most unexpected ventures, though, was the BAPE Pro-Wrestling Tour, in which branded wrestlers fought in a BAPE camo ring, while NIGO commentated. These three wrestling masks are from these live events, worn by BAPE-themed wrestlers Ape Man and Super Milo, the latter inspired by BAPE’s monkey mascot, Baby Milo.

NIGO launched his second major clothing brand, HUMAN MADE, in 2010, and presides over it to this day. This heritage-driven brand draws on NIGO’s vast fashion archive of classic American denim, workwear and varsity items, reimagining them with bold graphics and animal mascots. This memorial jacket references one of the most one-of-a-kind pieces from NIGO’s vintage collection: a white cotton workman’s jacket worn by a graduate of an American university in the 1930s and signed and drawn on by his classmates. This 2018 design pays homage to the original vintage piece with printed versions of hand-drawn messages.

Doodles of burgers, coffee cups and ducks (a frequent motif for the HUMAN MADE brand) are joined by snippets of text in both English and Japanese, clashing colours and handwriting styles to keep the personal, DIY flavour of the 1930s find, updated for a contemporary audience.

As artistic director of KENZO PARIS, NIGO has increasingly turned his attention to traditional Japanese styles and techniques. This denim outfit, part of his Autumn–Winter 2025 collection for the brand, demonstrates how NIGO fuses his own design DNA with that of the Parisian fashion house, founded by Japanese designer Kenzō Takada in 1971. A traditional Japanese silhouette – the kimono – is updated with indigo-hued denim with a Hickory-inspired stripe, giving a nod to both early 20th-century American workwear and the flourishing Japanese denim industry that revives its manufacturing techniques.

The look’s spraypaint-inspired motif was created with NIGO’s longstanding collaborator Futura, a street artist who first came to international recognition in New York in the 1980s. It updates the classic KENZO flower, placing Futura’s bold atomic insignia at its centre.

A few months after becoming artistic director of KENZO, NIGO recruited his old friend, American rapper Kid Cudi, to be the face of his first big red carpet moment. For the 2022 Met Gala, NIGO suggested that Cudi wear a version of a 1984 black tuxedo with a cape from KENZO’s extensive archive. But Cudi had the idea to update the ensemble in electric blue, and to line the underside with the iconic KENZO flower motif.

NIGO and Pharrell Williams first became friends in the early 2000s, launching their first brand, Billionaire Boys Club, together soon after (it debuted in the video for Pharrell’s track ‘Frontin’’). After Pharrell was made artistic director of Louis Vuitton Menswear, he invited NIGO to co-design a collection with him, celebrating their 25 years of friendship. The result was Autumn–Winter 2025’s ‘Remember The Future’ collection, which was filled with references to the duo’s longstanding friendship and creative partnership. This wearable ‘Lobster’ wallet is inspired by NIGO and Pharrell’s shared enthusiasm for fishing – and one particular fishing trip in which the pair caught a lobster.

Although NIGO has gained worldwide recognition, he is committed to expanding his knowledge and exploring new creative practices. In recent years, he has turned his attention towards the study of traditional Japanese crafts and rituals. Alongside training to be a master of tea ceremony, NIGO also practices ceramics, crafting his own pottery in his studio in Tokyo and travelling across Japan to learn regional styles. He combines his two passions by using the bowls he has made himself in his own tea ceremonies. Handmade by NIGO, this ceramic tea bowl is one of 25 displayed inside a glass teahouse by made especially for NIGO: From Japan With Love by the exhibition’s headline sponsor, NOT A HOTEL.