Design Museum unveils first-ever Nigo retrospective in London

The Design Museum has unveiled the very first retrospective on Nigo, the visionary Japanese designer and creative director, Tomoaki Nagao, charting his expansive career from his early activity in Harajuku through the founding of A Bathing Ape to his current role as artistic director of LVMH-owned Kenzo.

Running from May 1 to October 4, ‘Nigo: From Japan With Love,’ celebrates Nigo’s career, inspirations and influences, features more than 700 objects spanning three decades of work, including 600 items from Nigo’s personal archive, from vintage baseball caps and varsity jackets spotlighting his fascination with Americana to pieces that have shaped his craft and approach to design.

Esme Hawes, co-curator of the exhibition, said in a statement: “For the first time, Nigo has given us unprecedented access to his extensive and intriguing archive. Nigo has been an avid collector since his early years, growing his passion for collecting from a hobby into a lifelong passion.

“His collection acts as a live toolbox from which he seeks inspiration, often sampling from these pieces to create his own designs. Deliberately chosen, personally meaningful and often surprising, the pieces in the exhibition not only chart Nigo’s extensive and diverse career but also his inspirations, passions and influences.”

Inside the Nigo: From Japan With Love exhibition

The exhibition, split into four categories, opens with a reconstruction of Nigo’s 1980s teenage bedroom from Maebashi, spotlighting ‘The Future is the Past,’ with objects collected and preserved from his youth that shaped his creative influences. Highlights include cherished figurines and toys, including Donald Duck, Felix the Cat and Star Wars characters, alongside Japanese toys, music and magazines from the era, as well as Americana fashion, such as 1950s Levi’s denim jackets and statement jeans, demonstrating this mingling of cultures, which continues to inspire the creative director today.

The second section ‘Evolution’ spotlights Nigo’s early career with his first store, Nowhere, which he co-founded with fashion designer Jun Takahashi in 1993, part of the ‘Ura-Hara’ scene centred around the backstreets of Harajuku, Tokyo, as well as his own clothing label A Bathing Ape, often abbreviated to BAPE, which launched the same year. This section features early design drawings from Nigo’s time at fashion college alongside rare early era BAPE clothing items, as well as sharing his love of novel packaging, such as T-shirt packaging that looks like spray cans, and collaborations with Kaws, Mac, Pepsi, Disney and Nintendo, which sparked a new era of collecting and hype culture.

This section also highlights how the vintage Americana fashion collected in his youth influence the pieces he went onto design, such as the 'Yokosuka Jumper' souvenir jacket, a stadium jacket emulating the Varsity style and denim pieces, as well as the design perceptive he brings to his role as artistic director of Kenzo by incorporating elements from the house's archive into his contemporary designs to create a fresh yet nostalgic identity. Several runway looks are on display, alongside the royal blue suit and cape ensemble designed for Kid Cudi, worn at the 2022 Met Gala.

This leads into ‘The Nigo Effect,’ which examines how he has become a sought-after trendsetter for brands across fashion, music and design. The section highlights collaborations with Louis Vuitton, where he has worked with the luxury fashion house with numerous creative directors, including Marc Jacobs, Pharrell Williams and Virgil Abloh, as well as exploring his ongoing partnership with Nike, including limited edition T-shirts and a signature Varsity style jacket featuring the Nigo x Nike swoosh emblem and sealed 2024 APE-force trainers.

The exhibition concludes with 25 ceramics hand-thrown by Nigo displayed in a life-sized glass tea house designed by Nigo in collaboration with Not A Hotel, specifically for the Design Museum. The ‘New Traditions’ section explores Nigo’s personal explorations into Japanese craft and rituals, as well as his new creative practices in traditional techniques, his training to be a master of tea ceremony and creating pottery from his studio in Tokyo.

Tim Marlow, director and chief executive of the Design Museum, added: “Nigo’s contributions to the fashion industry as we know it today are highly significant and under-explored. He has helped redesign the landscape of brand collaboration, as well as continuing to blur boundaries between streetwear and luxury.

“The Design Museum is delighted to present the first global retrospective of his extraordinary career and showcase the impact of a Japanese pioneer on global fashion culture.”

Alongside the exhibition, Nigo’s long-time collaborator Nike has launched a pop-up at their High Street Kensington location, featuring the exclusive Nike x Nigo x the Design Museum range of sweaters, caps and T-shirts featuring the signature Nigo x Nike swoosh logo. The line will be available to purchase for the duration of the exhibition run, with further drops taking place on 1 July 1 and August 1.

Additionally, the Nike x Nigo LO2 Air Force 1 and apparel collection will launch exclusively on May 1 at the Design Museum in London, before widely launching on May 2 at humanmade.jp and Undercover stores.