Junya Watanabe
The Label
Junya Watanabe, a protégé of Rei Kawakubo, melds a curiosity about futuristic fabrics with a brilliant sense of shape and tailoring. One season he’s creating dresses shaped like precision topiary from candy-colored PVC; a few collections later, he’s sending out slightly hostile ragamuffins in distressed luxurious tweeds or punk rockers in motorcycle boots. Deconstructing classics is one of his favorite themes, so he’ll often take apart trench coats, white shirts, or sweaters, exaggerate a component or two, and put them back together for an entirely new, always urbane result. In an arena not exactly known for embracing groundbreaking innovation, Watanabe’s menswear has received particular acclaim.
The Look
Watanabe’s collections routinely advance ideas like the marriage of tailoring and sport (finely-cut track suits) or elevate an ordinary item to something unique but still masculine, like the tweed-covered down vests.
The Designer
Here’s what’s known about the press-shy, monosyllabic Watanabe: Rei Kawakubo hired him in 1984, right out of Bunka Fashion College, to be Comme des Garçons’ knitwear designer. He did a first collection under his name in 1992, which he showed in Paris. He introduced his own men’s line in 2000 but also works with Kawakubo on the Comme men’s line both of which are shown in Milan. He’s also collaborated with Levi’s, Nike, and Fred Perry.
