A new book celebrates the extraordinary career of Japanese designer Mr Jun Takahashi and his venerated brand. Here are some of the highlights .

It’s not exactly clear when maverick Japanese designer Mr Jun Takahashi launched Undercover. At least, that’s what he says in the new book about his cult Tokyo-based brand, published by Rizzoli this month. “I enrolled in Bunka Fashion College in 1988, and started the brand during my second or third year, so I know it’s one of those two,” he tells art director Mr Tetsuya Nagato in the book’s front matter. “I don’t have anything left that can tell me about those days.”

Luckily, the rest of his enviable career in style is rather better documented, hence the comprehensive book, which traces Mr Takahashi’s creative endeavours from the opening of his influential Harajuku shop NOWHERE (in collaboration with NIGO®, the founder of A Bathing Ape) via Undercover’s spectacular shows in Paris to his collaborations with brands such as Supreme and Comme des Garçons. What is revealed through the retrospective gaze is Mr Takahashi’s truly multi-faceted approach to design, and his ability to meld the creative energy of Japanese pop culture with an ingenious, technical attitude towards the deconstruction of clothing.

Highlights of the work featured in the book include the AW98 collection, which featured modular zipped garments with interchangeable parts, and the “Languid” collection of SS04, in which two versions of each look were shown on the runway, one crisp and clean and one so distressed that it looked almost like it was melting. We’ve also got a soft spot for the SS10 collection, inspired by the ultra-clean minimalism of legendary Braun designer Mr Dieter Rams. Of course, the book also covers more recent, high-profile projects, like Mr Takahashi’s running line Gyakusou, which he created with Nike in 2011, and his collection of family wear for Japanese retail giant Uniqlo. All in all, it seems like an awful lot of work. And Mr Takahashi isn’t stopping any time soon. “My interests keep growing,” he says, “and since I don’t get any weird hang-ups anymore, the range of things I can absorb keeps expanding. Even a concept that I would never have considered in the past seems pretty good recently…” Given the delights to be found in this particular tome, we at MR PORTER can’t wait to see what Mr Takahashi comes up with next.

Undercover (Rizzoli) by Mr Jun Takahashi is out now