Obsessed with punk from a young age, Takahashi spent some of his youth as the lead singer of the tribute band the Tokyo Sex Pistols. His nickname, Jonio, is a nod to Johnny Rotten, aka Mr John Lydon. But after 30 years in the game, with a reputation for genius weighing heavily on his shoulders, he’s unfazed. “Though I suppose I do feel a little pressure to keep on continuing doing what I’m doing,” he says.

That unwavering commitment to his own vision, plus the punkish attitude to resist bending to anyone else’s will, has earned Takahashi a serious cult following. And while attracting an army of obsessives is no mean feat, perhaps more impressive still is how Takahashi has managed to cultivate and expand on it without ever selling out. To understand how he’s done that, it helps to first understand MADSTORE.

Originally opening in Tokyo in 2013 as a concept shop specialising in exclusive items, MADSTORE quickly gained fans overseas. Conceived as a shop within a shop – it is housed within the Parco department store in Shibuya – stepping into the store feels a bit like entering Takahashi’s own private dream landscape. The items stocked there, iconic collectables such as the MediCom Gilapple lamps and clocks (in the rather convincing shape of a real apple, crafted from glossy PVC), take cues from Undercover’s rich archive. They exist apart from regular fashion seasons, providing a recognisable and, crucially, accessible entry-point to the in-demand brand.

“[MADSTORE is about] expressing Undercover’s dark pop world through products that were more casual-minded, that are then able to reach more people,” Takahashi says.

In a first for the brand, MADSTORE merch is now available on MR PORTER as part of our new Super Mart collection, which means you no longer need to hop on a flight to Haneda airport to get your hands on it.

“When I first went to Tokyo, one of the stores at the top of my list was the MADSTORE at Laforet in Harajuku,” says Mr George Archer, Senior Buyer for MR PORTER. Archer is an avid Undercover fan himself: “I got so excited finally being able to experience the store. So when I spoke to the Undercover team, I wanted to try and replicate that experience online, giving our customers access to the brand, especially when most of us are unable to travel to Japan.”

As well as collectables, you’ll find T-shirts, tote bags and hoodies emblazoned with Takahashi’s darkly surreal designs, including a three-eyed cat, a cycloptic flower-bearing apple and a leather pouch that resembles a freshly pulled pint of lager. It’s freakish, tongue-in-cheek stuff – when Takahashi says mad, he means it.

Plus, the focus on far-out items clothing feels particularly pertinent right now: “It goes without saying, but obviously coronavirus has increased the amount of time we all spend at home,” Takahashi says. “So, I think that’s the reason [that people are more interested in homeware and collectables].”

Archer agrees: “The demand in these lifestyle pieces are even higher than clothes, and particularly since the pandemic began people have turned to buying items beyond T-shirts and sneakers.”

Crucially, for Undercover and Takahashi, doubling down on this expansion into a world where surreal pieces of PVC fruit sit next to teddy bears and T-shirts is a fresh way to approach survival in fashion, especially at a time when the industry has been doing some soul-searching.

“Thanks to the pandemic, how much waste we’ve been producing in fashion has become clearer than ever,” Takahashi says. “Smaller brands like ours were competing with these big maisons by investing huge amounts of money into expensive fashion shows. But the time has finally come that each brand can choose its own way of selling products that aligns with its capacity and creativity.”

Fortunately for Takahashi, fashion’s mad king, creativity is never in short supply.