JUUN.J. Men's Fall 2020 - Paris Fashion Week

Images from the designer and the public domain. Credited to the photographer/company where applicable: Gorunway.com)

After JUUN.J's Spring 2020 showing last year, which set a precedence for the designer that, despite his over sized styling, displayed his skills of fine tailoring enabling him to morph the Spring outfits snuggly onto the models.  This was a vast improvement from some of his more bunched up looks of previous seasons, particularity with leather to which he has an affinity for and depending on the layering, cuts and techniques it can be a hard material to master.  The South Korean designer has been showing at Paris Fashion Week for over ten years now, so his experiences and ability to captivate via the runway have always held an exceptional appeal.  But I wonder, and this was noted also from my Rick Owens review, that a creative burnout maybe looming.  Which in anyway that it manifests, JUUN.J latest collection comes up short from his previous showings over the years, the collection at times feels slightly rushed, settling for his benchmarked oversized styles that the designer is renown for, but with an abundance of leather on display to which JUUN.J has claimed that he is experimenting with bondage and PVC fetish looks for this season.  His Fall 2020 ensemble feels gauche and saturated. 

The suiting styles and cleaner modernist looks, both major trends from 2019, have been implanted into his latest offering, seen with the blazers, ties and the more defined styles on display, JUUN.J has maintained his exaggerated shoulder pads which, when looking back at a decade of his styles, he was considered part of the recent avant-garde wave, that has fallen somewhat out of the limelight.  Replaced by the mentioned trends. 

Heavy-handed leather, coats, vests, skirts and pants. Mostly set within the black spectrum, the Stygian left over from the avant-garde stylizations of yesterday.  The collection as mentioned struggles with consistency, whilst mixing in both male and female models for the Fall men's 2020 collection, the stuffy and unflattering aspects of JUUN.J fits have reared again, which is a shame because since the Spring 2020 showing, he was able to subdue the inflexibility of leather in melding and creating his signature look.  Parts of the collection do indeed reveal JUUN.J's past flair and originality, which can be seen on the sleeker and more sculptured looks – infused with the oversize jackets and trench coats, particularly the women's styles.