Jun Takahashi’s latest offering for Undercover is a quiet murmur in a world that often demands a shout. For Resort 2026, the designer distills his signature tension—between chaos and order, rebellion and restraint—into a menswear collection that is both hauntingly subdued and richly expressive. Stripped of runway theatrics, the lookbook format lays the garments bare, revealing their subtle complexities without the distraction of spectacle.

And yet, the spirit of Undercover lingers unmistakably. The models, frozen in gentle drift, embody a mood of transitional ease—a liminal state between seasons, between certainty and curiosity. Their accessories softly underscore this dissonance: wide-brimmed straw hats scrawled with “i am chaos” perch atop heads like quiet provocations, while refined slingback mules nod toward Birkenstock comfort, but with an elevated, sleeker edge. The chaos, it seems, is whispered, not shouted.

This sense of gentle disruption flows through the collection itself. Takahashi’s beloved menswear archetypes—bowling shirts, parkas, linen suiting—are gently warped, their familiarity blurred. Camp-collar shirts in washed cotton arrive layered with textured patches that suggest both repair and reimagination. Parkas are tailored with unexpected collars, creating a hybrid of utility and sophistication. Linen suits drape oversized but carefully measured, balancing looseness with quiet discipline.

Elsewhere, carefully frayed knits and leather jackets with knit backs hint at the brand’s grunge-punk DNA, but these elements have matured. The rebellion has softened, refined into a kind of poetic unrest. Utility pocket sets and shirt-shorts combinations provide subtle nods to function, while maintaining a focus on silhouette and texture. Nothing here feels hurried or haphazard—the so-called “chaos” is studied, controlled, intentional.

Even the color story feels tempered: tonal layering in washed neutrals, dusty pastels, and soft blacks that speak of Japanese New Wave cinema rather than Western brashness. It’s an evolution of punk—not erased, but evolved into quiet resistance.

In a season where fashion often splits between opulent maximalism and sterile minimalism, Undercover’s Resort 2026 menswear finds its power in between: a meditation on disruption spoken in soft fabrications and gentle tension. It is grunge grown up, rebellion rethreaded with patience, and Takahashi’s quietest statement yet that, sometimes, the strongest voice is the one that barely rises above a whisper.