PARIS – Beige hunting jackets with oversized pockets, paired with discreet shirts and ties, opened Junya Watanabe’s latest menswear show at Paris Fashion Week Friday.
It was a deceptively classic start for the avant-garde Japanese designer, whose signature knack for subversive tailoring and patchwork soon disrupted conventions.
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What looked like classic Americana — thick denim jeans, caps, and check shirts — quickly morphed into something far less predictable. Exaggerated blown-up check pants in red with dramatic turn-ups injected a sense of whimsy, as did splashes of vivid color. A pale yellow jacket and a tactile padded coat in soft pastels softened the masculinity, reworking the rugged aesthetic into something gender-fluid.
Flashes of bold hues, from vibrant red to bright blue checks, became a defining motif. The palette danced across reimagined hunting jackets and distinctly masculine silhouettes, which were disrupted by the designer’s famed use of patchwork. Here, it wasn’t just a technique but a conceptual statement — ideas and styles stitched together, creating contradictions.
Hunting jackets might evoke tradition, but here they felt fresh, even irreverent, with their clever layering of fabrics and unexpected details. The collection demonstrated Watanabe’s mastery in blending the familiar with the avant-garde, offering a “bro” aesthetic turned on its head by bursts of feminine color.
The recurring themes of denim and disruptive tailoring felt polished yet safe, lacking the urgency or political edge that defined his earlier work.