BAPE, hip Japanese streetwear, finally hits Paris
It’s official: A Bathing Ape – BAPE for those in the know – has chosen Paris as the location of its first European store. The Japanese brand founded in 1993 by designer-DJ-producer Nigo is the go-to label for streetwear enthusiasts.
Its hoodies and sweatpants with camouflage prints and shark heads have been snapped on hip-hop celebrities from Jay-Z to Kanye West via Kid Cudi and Pharell. Below the radar outside Asia with one store in New York and a corner at Selfridges in London, the launch of this first European outlet in the Marais has generated quite a buzz.
No stranger to cutting-edge collaborations and limited editions, the label has created a special Paris tribute collection with the camouflage of sweatshirts and trousers in the colors of the French flag, along with a t-shirt and hoodie designed in collaboration with Mastermind Japan, the high-end streetwear label of Masaaki Homma, a disciple of Yohji Yamamoto.
The French flag on this t-shirt and hoodie is accessorized with a skull and crossbones, the symbol of Mastermind Japan, on the blue, the Bape logo on the red, and the words “mastermind Paris A BATHING APE” on the white. After Supreme in 2016 and Bape in 2017, rumor has it that New York-based brand Kith is mooting a move. Could Paris be the next capital of streetwear?
Bape Store Paris.
