junya watanabe

I love when you can see a designer really thinking about how clothes relate to the body. The act of wearing clothes is a tacit agreement, creating a bond that extends to how you feel beneath the clothes and what you project on the outside. Junya Watanabe's fall collection was a very modern take on draping, something when done the right way, or at the very least an exciting way, can look almost couture in that with each fold and fall of the fabric it fits differently on every body. Each look rigorously worked that idea with a focus on the body and never once abandoning it.

The models, or figures rather, in the show were striking with their faces concealed with opaque headwraps and bulbous things poking out from beneath. The trend of veiling the face, a big a few seasons back, immediately connotes something about silencing or beheading women, only to use them their for their bodies, but here it doesn't come across as violent or misogynistic. It appears Watanabe wants us to look at the clothes and not be worried about the big beauty trends of the season. What is there on the body is fantastically draped in a myriad of ways, some that are familiar and others that are not. The smoky grays that were the color basis of the collection looked as if smog breezed up the body. It's an odd effect, which may make the models look like apparitions, but the eye goes immediately to the craftsmanship of clothes that slink and slither around the body. It wasn't all fluid lines and drapery, there were strong and structured peacoats and blazers paired with elongated skirts and pants, all in that urban gray and black. Gray and black are interesting colors because they're not as vibrant as obviously shocking colors in the crayon box, and yet there is a life to them that feels very relevant. The latter part of the collection blossomed with a smattering of flower prints splashed across the draped dresses with the model's faces finally exposed. The narrative and evolution of thought was so strong and evocative in this collection that you wish other designers, especially American designers, pushed the perimeters of fashion so hard and splendidly as Watanabe achieved in this collection.