A Bathing Ape

Nigo founded A Bathing Ape in Tokyo's Ura-Harajuku in 1993. The name references Planet of the Apes and a Japanese phrase about a spoiled youth bathing in lukewarm water. Working inside a small circle of designers and shops, including the Nowhere store he shared with Jun Takahashi of Undercover, Nigo kept production runs tiny and access difficult. The graphics did the rest, especially the ape-head camouflage and the full-zip shark hoodie. Coverage of BAPE on Quiet Menace starts on those backstreets, with the Ura-Harajuku travel guide explaining how the area became a pilgrimage for streetwear fans. The hip-hop and menswear history picks up when BAPE crossed into American music, largely through Nigo's friendship with Pharrell, with whom he launched Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream. Nigo sold the company to I.T, a Hong Kong fashion group, in 2011 and left a couple of years later. In 2021 he became artistic director of Kenzo. The Bape Sta, a patent leather sneaker with an obvious debt to the Air Force 1, remains the brand's most argued-about shoe.