March 4, 2018 |
No Theme. This was the Junya Watanabe Autumn/ Winter 18 collection. It was pulled back, easier, but with all that sneaky Watanabe magic in the works. “I believe my work is to express whatever I feel like doing at each moment,” Junya Watanabe told Richard Gray in our Spring/ Summer 18 issue. “Whether that is trendy or not has nothing to do with my work. Trends are born after we make something.” And so today, for his AW18 collection, Mr Watanabe was spot on the goods.
Wide shouldered, top heavy, oversized blazers hung low and hid hands, worn over floral skinny pants and with those Buffalo 1339-14 white platform sneakers, so chunky and elevated. The bigger the better. A long-sleeved knit was intercepted by a pale sheer chiffon off the shoulder backless dress, electric blue leggings peeking out from underneath. Business in the front, party in the back. Strategic layering. Oversized bomber and baseball jackets were embroidered with flowers and thick red, white and blue socks converged into shiny skin tight black leggings. Truly clothes for the people. Super chill.
Thick oversize knits were right for the season and shoes using Reebok’s Freestyle Hi style were a slightly less intense sneaker to work with. We were told via the press notes that “Watanabe wanted to transform the most basic of garments in existence into something new.” And he did exactly that. Watanabe took everything that’s right on the bullseye right now and metamorphosed it with quality and technique, forever pieces. And honestly, it felt quite nice to see a collection not bogged down in thematics, but completely true to what we want to buy.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd Evans
