Designer of the Month: Junya Watanabe

The man himself!

Junya Watanabe is a Japanese fashion designer. He is originally known as being the protege of Rei Kawakubo. He started showing designs in Paris in 1993 and after 20 years is still highly renowned for designing innovative and distinctive clothing. He is considered to be a 'techno couture' designer, creating weirdly structured clothes out of modern, high-maintenace materials. Whereas most designers will opt for the easy option. Not Watanabe!

The main reason I adore his work, is he changes each season. Taking a stab at futuristic designs that not many designers would bother with. He gives his clothes an unusual touch through tucking and pleating as he sees fit. He makes it look so simple and still elegant just by random, spur of the moment ideas.

Junya's Autumn/Winter 2013 collection

He morphed biker jackets into dresses featuring tweed as well as tartan (which is huge right now) and combining with plain leggings gave it much more intensity. I would actually buy the dress in the second picture above. Love love love it.

 The double-breasted macs were covered in zips, reverting to the punk style. Then came sporty dresses in the shape of sweatshirts (above and below) worn again over plain leggings. Many journalists loved the biker jackets and the patchwork jeans, as do I! He turned the ends up to reveal a floral underneath or embroidered patches. 
These will by the 'must buys' next season!

The hair style of all his models reminds me of Joan Jett. That and the biker style jackets take me back instantly to the punky 'Runaways' movement. His A/W '13 collection spoke to me most, due to the style combined with the simplicity of it. Its about the clothes, nothing else. It's about just wearing it, not taking the whole duration of the walk trying to figure out the message.

Simple, straight forward fashion.