Putting on his latest menswear presentation at the Place Vendôme, Junya Watanabe made it clear early on that this season would be about style and out came the statement suits and not much else. Of course, the regulation that each look should be topped off with somewhat eccentric chapeaus was rather out of the ordinary, but that was as far as the conceptual design icon wanted to go. For now it seems impeccable tailoring for the new age dandy was his main concern.
Adding a patchwork effect to tuxedos was as deconstructed as he was willing to go and elsewhere fuzzy woolly jackets suggested that subtly was key. This attention to detail was evident in everything from the pocket squares to the colour-coordinated socks that tied together the understated colour palette and this gave each ensemble its own extraordinary character that dispelled any notion of the conveyer-belt collections that we often see.
Props also must go to Watanabe for casting such a diverse selection of mutton-chopped and at times inked-up crew of models, proving that for all his avant-garde parlays, he is a designer that likes to keep his finger on the pulse of fashion’s contemporary movers and shakers.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Style.com