Junya Watanabe
Origins
Fury, Formerly Rei Kawakubo’s apprentice pattern-maker at Comme des Garcons, Junya Watanabe knew he wanted to pursue fairly fashion early on (SHOWstudio, Junya Watanabe). Born in Fukushima in 1961, Watanabe graduated from Bunka Fashion College 23 years later in 1984 and immediately started working at CDG (Comme des Garcons). However working at a different fashion label didn’t stop him from producing his own work which was backed by CDG.
Monozukuri
Being that he is from Japan, he was heavily influenced by his culture. Particularly by the word “Monozukuri” meaning craftsmanship and the attention to detail of depth. Mono, he explained, meant “thing” while zukuri meant to manufacture or grow. To him it meant that he wanted his work to outshine him (SHOWstudio, Junya Watanabe). Similar to Martin Margiela, Watanabe rarely does interviews or answers questions regarding his work. Therefore not much is known about him besides his work.
Influence
In 1993, Junya Watanabe transferred his shows from Tokyo all the way to Paris, France. Just 8 years later he launched his menswear line. Junya Watanabe has become a household name among those deeply interested in fashion, his avant-garde way of reinventing clothes has helped him stand out greatly. Due to being mentored at CDG, he has used this to mentor Tao Kurihara to launch under CDG (Fury, Junya Watanabe).
Works Cited
Fury, Alexander. “Junya Watanabe, One of Fashion’s Foremost Thinkers.” The New York Times, 17 October 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/t-magazine/junya-watanabe-interview.html. Accessed 10 May 2024.
SHOWstudio. “Junya Watanabe.” SHOWstudio, https://www.showstudio.com/contributors/junya_watanabe. Accessed 10 May 2024.
