March 6, 2023 |
Need a fiery wake up? Skip the ginger shot and head straight to a Junya Watanabe show. An early time slot of 9:30am didn’t halt the Japanese designer from blasting Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” through the hallowed halls of Oratoire du Louvre. The song’s time-travelling themes inspired Watanabe to pepper his AW23 collection with otherworldly spirit. His cast emerged like intergalactic warriors, their faces shielded with dystopian masks created with Berlin label Innerraum (Watanabe also collaborated with the brand on his men’s collection). Throughout, Nylon tech gear and motorcycle jackets were chopped up and Frankensteined back together to create hulking leather outerwear, apron-style dresses, and deconstructed babydoll frocks.
Watanabe really flexed his creative chops here, particularly when it came to the coats: cocooning puffers and a ferocious, shearling-lined leather trench were standouts. Like Robert Plant’s lyrics, the craftsmanship here was out-of-this-world.
Photography courtesy of Junya Watanabe.
