Junya Watanabe brought something brighter to the table than his usual black-on-black this season. Opting for a palette of black and grey with pops of red, yellow and blue, the Japanese designer commented, “I have used denim and patchwork a lot in my past collections, but this time I tried to go further in my exploration to find new discoveries.”
With models’ sauntering down a vivid red carpet, the show opened with a patchwork denim peacoat paired with a dapper bow tie for a street-inspired evening wear look. This was followed by a procession of suits in similarly chopped-up denim styles – Watanabe’s rendition of the Canadian tuxedo. Some were baggy and flowed out from the arms like capes whilst others were fitted to the models’ figures for a cleaner, more classical look. Later, there were ACDC, Scorpions and Black Sabbath graphic T-shirts, bringing a rocker touch to a collection doused in grunge design codes.
Always the avid collaborator, Watanabe tapped Levi’s, CPFM, New Balance, Kuboraum, Tricker’s and Innerraum for a number of the pieces. While CPFM’s designworks were printed onto a silk scarf that was patched into jeans or used to elevate tops, Innerraum created a tech leather backpack and New Balance unveiled a new co-designed trainer. Tricker’s grommet-pierced patent leather brogues and Kuboraum’s paparazzi-proof sunglasses took special occasion dressing to new dimensions. It was a great exploration of the traditional and the innovative, laced with Watanabe’s distinctly subversive style.
Photography courtesy of Christina Fragkou.
