Get to know Junya Watanabe – Avant-garde of conceptual design

Beyond any doubt, Japan is acknowledged by the whole industry as one of the most high-quality design specialists. Renowned for innovativeness, unusual cuts and fabrics, Junya Watanabe has been doing his bit to extend the idea of what menswear would look like. Today, probably more than ever, the designer leads his artwork to new fields with his own conception of designing garments.

Comme des Garçons’s mentee

Starting as a pattern maker at Comme des Garçons in 1984, Junya Watanabe steadily became a major element in the company. Trained by the label’s director and legend herself Rei Kawakubo, Watanabe could express both his talent and art as the brand’s protégé. In 1993, the prodigious designer played loud from the outset by launching a genuine first collection in Paris. Since then, expectations have been running high around the globe for his namesake label.

Reshaping collaborations 

If collaborations adorn the streetwear landscape time and time again, Watanabe definitely stands out from the crowd. Conventionally, Junya Watanabe joins forces with designers and artists from very different backgrounds to carve out new spaces on the market making him one of the most versatile players in the game. Among many others, partnerships with The North Face, Canada Goose, Levi’s, New Balance or Carhartt rethink classics with a truly vanguard approach. The outcome gives life to new silhouettes and delivers down parkas and jackets, customized jeans, crewneck sweaters, sneakers and much more. Spanning textures and techniques on casual notes, Watanabe’s work and design offer ready-to-wear pieces that can be combined anytime and anywhere.

Under the umbrella of CDG, Junya Watanabe brand strengthens the Japanese influence worldwide and establishes a new framework for smart menswear. Alongside Needles, the label hits our shelves this year.

In the pursuit of excellence in your wardrobe ? Enhance your lifestyle and set yourself apart, release FW19 is now online !

Article written by Sidney Vertongen.