“His sweet dresses are printed with colorful circles and squares or floral prints resembling dandelion blossoms that have turned white and are ready to disintegrate with the first puff of wind. There are silly ruffled bloomers tucked under tops and ruffled skirts bursting with attitude. Other dresses, some printed and some not, are adorned with oversize plastic paillettes in the shapes of circles and squares that look as if they have become animated and taken flight and have only briefly alighted on an unsuspecting frock. And then, poof, the lights go down and a secret is revealed: The dresses, the shorts and the blouses all glow in the dark. That doesn't really serve a purpose--unless one is prone to walking alone in a filmy day dress, in the dark by the side of the road. But the point is the fun, not the purpose.”

“To say that Watanabe rarely fits in would be something of an understatement. In 1995, amid a Paris fashion establishment so locked into minimalism that anything as decorative as a button was frowned upon, the designer thought nothing of sending out an acid-bright selection of PVC clothing that looked like pick-and-mix sweets. The following season he turned Gothic - pale-faced, heavily tattooed models came out in distressed, dark clothing embellished with gleaming zips. Then there were backless, immaculately tailored dresses in jewel-coloured brocades, pretty little floral skirts, a collection that was made entirely out of olive wool suspended from coils of silver metal, another where up to 20 layers of fabric were used in one garment. There were jackets with pearl necklaces cleverly attached, an entire collection of waterproof clothing, a Courreges/Chanel homage that, in its sheer inventiveness, gave the originals a run for their money, and there were dresses that resembled nothing more than giant sea anemones that glowed in the dark.”

“Both developments place Watanabe firmly at the leading edge of this season's new ideas, even if the way he shows—in a long, drawn-out fugue of a presentation—is singularly at odds with most designers' sound-bite style of showcasing their work these days.”