(Images: Junya Watanabe)
If there was ever a show to relish in and there has been so many, as a perspective of the illusive Japanese designer Junya Watanabe's extensive backlog of over twenty seven years of showing at Paris Fashion Weeks, it would be his Spring 2006 collection. Showcasing, after six years since his debut in 2000 under the Comme des Garçons banner. It was Watanabe's ode to the sweet spot that was the early 1980s punk and avant-grade fashion when it graced the Paris runways twenty years early, as it would be Rei Kawakubo, Watanabe's mentor, with Yohji Yamamoto's deconstruction styles and layered looks that would have a significant impact of not just Couture but also Ready-to-Wear collections thereafter. However, one cannot dismiss the major influences on early 80's runway styles by the stalwart UK designer Vivienne Westwood, after her and Malcolm McLaren collaboration in bringing the aesthetics of punk to high end fashion. So after 15 years, in the shadow of Watanabe's own rebellious punk inspired stylizations, he has returned with a super refined redux for his Fall 2021 showing, with Europe possibly being effected by a 3rd wave of COVID-19, it has been held in Tokyo.
And there is also a distinct possibility that COVID-19 might not just disappear, even with the ongoing inoculations although not seasonal such as the flu, which gives everybody enough time for the two hemispheres to prepare a vaccine going into the winter months. This new virus may just keep mutating into various strains, not abiding to the seasonal spread. Maybe a negative thought. But, it is at the end of the day, something we, as a society, are just going to have to adjust too. And it has happened before throughout history – that viruses, microscopic entities, do indeed change civilizations. So, looking over Watanabe's laudation to the punk counter culture of yesterday, one tries to imagine how fashion, as far as the aesthetic goes, will be affected by the impact that this pandemic has had on society. Yes, the is a lot of anger about, in most cases it is more misdirected than not. But, maybe the most powerful protest one can take, individually, is turning your back on the noise, switching off from Twitter, taking a deep breath through the nose, exhaling slowly through the mouth whilst quietly saying, in a calm and detached manner, “F*ck you all.”
The trend so far for 2021 is clearly the reworked
styles of avant-garde, although with a far more darker and serious template,
but not, thankfully, a feigned political one, which offers, as mentioned a more
of an individual mix and match look under the experimental banner. Although Watanabe has shown similarities,
particularly, like the 2006 show, by having a local Japanese punk band attend,
this time playing rock classics, as the runway sound track. This all female punk cast of models, have
ensured that the F.Us are maintained in overdrive, although not as quite and
zen like as I suggested, the styles presented are just so good. No comprising here. Yes, the collection has the cut up, mix and
match thrift feel, which was a closing trend for 2019 pre the pandemic, however it
is the fits and styling which, along with the defiant show piece, is what you
would expect from a long standing member of the fashion design elite from
Japan. Watanabe, for his Comme des
Garçons take on the malcontent has not
disappointed.
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