Junya Watanabe
Recognized early as a forward-thinking and compelling voice in fashion, Junya Watanabe started as an apprentice pattern-maker for Comme des Garçons right after graduating from the prestigious Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. In just three years, Junya Watanabe was promoted to design director for the Tricot line and later HOMME. His meteoric rise continued and his first Junya Watanabe line was launched in 1992. Known for his characteristic combinations that hybridise classic essentials and for the complex patternmaking, draping and building techniques of deconstruction - there is the craftsman’s innovation and the artist’s experimentation in equal measure. This intellectual design aesthetic challenges preconceived notions of fashion and acts as a bridge between subcultures. Junya Watanabe taps into the zeitgeist of what it means to live as a modern man hunting for the good life. And while considered contemporary high fashion at times, the pieces are grounded in the near-spiritual approach to craftsmanship rooted in Japanese culture - constant improvement in the endless pursuit of perfection. Collaborations with the likes of Levi’s, Nike, North Face, Canada Goose, Converse, New Balance, Carhartt and many more take brands - and the subcultures that have adopted them as uniform - to new places while respecting the history of the products and the groups that have individualised them through their own presentations.
Recognized early as a forward-thinking and compelling voice in fashion, Junya Watanabe started as an apprentice pattern-maker for Comme des Garçons right after graduating from the prestigious Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. In just three years, Junya Watanabe was promoted to design director for the Tricot line and later HOMME. His meteoric rise continued and his first Junya Watanabe line was launched in 1992. Known for his characteristic combinations that hybridise classic essentials and for the complex patternmaking, draping and building techniques of deconstruction - there is the craftsman’s innovation and the artist’s experimentation in equal measure. This intellectual design aesthetic challenges preconceived notions of fashion and acts as a bridge between subcultures. Junya Watanabe taps into the zeitgeist of what it means to live as a modern man hunting for the good life. And while considered contemporary high fashion at times, the pieces are grounded in the near-spiritual approach to craftsmanship rooted in Japanese culture - constant improvement in the endless pursuit of perfection. Collaborations with the likes of Levi’s, Nike, North Face, Canada Goose, Converse, New Balance, Carhartt and many more take brands - and the subcultures that have adopted them as uniform - to new places while respecting the history of the products and the groups that have individualised them through their own presentations.