Andrew Rizzo Any way you wanna dice it, Vans has had an exceptionally strong year — headlined by groundbreaking new silhouettes, hot collabs with names like Atiba Jefferson and Travis Barker, and of course, the viral Chanel-inspired Old Skools. For its next trick, the Van Doren Rubber Company is reconvening with a familiar face in Jun Takahashi’s UNDERCOVER, delivering a four-sneaker capsule inspired by an unexpected (yet exciting) source.
To properly appreciate the collab requires a bit of a history lesson. Josep Baqué (1895–1967) was a self-taught Catalan artist known for his extraordinary and meticulously rendered bestiary of fantasy creatures. He reclusively created more than 1,500 ink and watercolor illustrations depicting hybrid beings — part animal, part human, part machine — with astonishing precision and imagination. It was only in 2007 that his works became public, and his talent for world-building immediately captivated artists worldwide.
As you can probably piece together at this point, it’s Baqué’s artistry that anchors UNDERCOVER’s latest Vans collab. The Old Skool silhouette is presented in black and white colorways featuring various illustrations, quite literally turning the skate shoe’s canvas upper into a canvas for artistic expression. The other half of the capsule features Vans Era styles embroidered with sketches of Jun Takahashi’s pet Jack Russell Terrier, drawn by the UNDERCOVER founder himself.
The UNDERCOVER x OTW by Vans collection releases October 29th via vans.com/otw, priced at $120 for the Era and $135 for the Old Skool styles. See official images of all four sneakers below if you’re moved to cop.
