Junya Watanabe is a Japanese fashion designer, originally the protege of Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo. Born in Fukushima, Japan in 1961, he went on to attend Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, graduating in 1984. At this time he began his apprenticeship at Comme des Garçons as a patternmaker. In 1987, he was promoted to chief designer of Tricot knitwear line and then moved on to design for the Comme Des Garçons Homme line. Starting in 1992, he has worked under his own name as part of Comme des Garçons. He started his own line under the Comme Des Garçons name called ‘Junya Watanabe Comme Des Garçons’ in 1993 and began showing in Paris that same year.
Runway shows, for me, are about analyzing each piece in the collection and finding the ones that are actually wearable. Junya’s F/W 2011 collection is a prime example of a solid, wearable collection. Great combination of color pallets and silhouettes.