Images, video, and commentary on junya watanabe collections. Collections covered listed below, with images scanned by us from various collections magazines (as credited) and videos embedded from source.

Spring summer 1995 - gap press collections
Autumn winter 1995 - fashion news vol. 27, gap press collections vol. 3, mode et mode no. 291, STREET contemporary fashion no. 2
Spring summer 1996 - gap press collections vol. 5, mode et mode 293

 

Spring summer 1995

Gap Press observed a neater style than Junya's previous winter collection: "This season saw casual style featuring traditional elements such as jeans stitch, the convertible collar, and also regimental, in fresh balance. This year seems neat compared to last season." In The New York Times, Amy M. Spindler provides this brief review of the collection: "Mr. Watanabe's concept involved reworking workmen's clothes. But the uniforms were like sartorial satyrs; the top of one uniform and the bottom of another were melded into a new form. A bright yellow fireman's jacket was joined with pin-striped men's pants. A rugby shirt blended into parachutists' pants. Each piece was a clever lesson in construction."

 

Autumn winter 1995

Constance C. R. White, writing for The New York Times, offers a detailed review of winter 1995: "His clothes set a new standard in combining function and esthetics...The two key innovations in what Mr. Watanabe called his "futuristic" collection were a system of pleats and welts strategically placed at points of movement on the body, and a stainless-steel transparent fabric developed in high-technology factories in his native Japan.

The welting represented not only a good idea, but also one that was beautifully executed. Many a concept has lighted a sketch pad only to die when translated to fabric or transposed onto the human form. Mr. Watanabe, however, developed his welt philosophy as he put the clothes on models. "I was thinking about function, so when clothes were being fitted I asked models to bend their elbows, to crouch," he said. "I was thinking about freedom of movement."

He carved groups of two and three vents into the fabric of sleek, fitted brown windowpane pants at the knee and put a vertical pleat up the back of the thighs of some trousers. Welts were carefully cut into the elbow area of the matching knee-length jacket, the effect being not unlike the joint breaks in a knight's medieval armor. In some outfits the welting was augmented with curved seams over the bust in jackets and over the back of low-slung pants.

Sometimes Mr. Watanabe, who is 33 and also designs Comme des Garcon's Tricot collection, topped his hip-huggers with a shimmery blouse or dress that seemed to have a life of its own as it stood ever so slightly away from the body. The polyester and stainless-steel fabric is stain-proof, he said, and was developed at a factory that specializes in fibers for use in computers and radar. With textiles playing an ever-larger role in marketplace differentiation, Mr. Watanabe, not surprisingly, declined to name the company."

In the "chat" section of STREET magazine's short-lived collections magazine, STREET contemporary fashion (no. 2), one editor expressed their initial shock at the price of the trousers from winter 1995, before eventually coming to understand it: "This time, the pants cost 70,000 yen, didn't they? I was surprised. However, since so many pieces and so good materials were invested in them, I can now understand it." 

 

Spring summer 1996

Constance C. R. White reviews the collection for The New York Times, and picks up on areas of continuity from winter 1995 into spring 1996: "Junya Watanabe, a protege of Rei Kawakubo, presented his wonderfully advanced spring collection in brilliant cobalt blues, hot pinks and mustard yellows. The collection, Mr. Watanabe said, represented "a positive outlook toward the future." In addition to strong color, Mr. Watanabe made his point with new concepts in cut and fabric treatment.

Last season's mesmerizing welts at the body's joints became slits, exposing a peek of knee or elbow. Mr. Watanabe also placed soft gathers of fabric at joints, forming little pouches.

He rendered slim shapes in bootleg pants, elongated jackets and slim dresses in laminated polyurethane, which resembled a soft cellophane, and polyester jersey. Colors clashed extraordinarily: a red blouse over pink bootlegs, a graphic-patterned double-breasted jacket in sky blue and hot pink with narrow cobalt-blue trousers, a green body-hugging shirt over an orange tank and hot-pink fitted trousers."

View our collection of Junya Watanabe garments here. And here you'll find a special collection we put together from our favourite junya collection, winter 1995 (and surrounds).