NIGO

Born Tomoaki Nagao in Maebashi, Gunma, NIGO studied at Bunka Fashion College alongside Jun Takahashi before launching A Bathing Ape in Harajuku in 1993. Building Ape into the defining Tokyo streetwear label of the 1990s and 2000s through camo motifs, the Bapesta sneaker and shark hoodies, he expanded the universe with the diffusion line AAPE BY *A BATHING APE in 2005. After exiting Bape in 2011, he co-founded Human Made with a focus on Americana craft and vintage-derived workwear, and in 2021 was appointed artistic director of Kenzo, becoming the first Japanese designer to lead the LVMH-owned Parisian house.