Junya Watanabe A/W 2018
Scene setting: Two seasons ago, Junya Watanabe staged his A/W 2017 show in the halls of Paris’ Faculty of Pharmacy, but for A/W 2018, the Japanese designer took guests deep into the underbelly of the building, directing them downstairs into its stark tiled corridors, lined with glass display cases and patchy paint. The campus location of the show emphasised the sports hall sensibility of its accompanying collection, with Watanabe pairing his punky deconstructed signatures and hybrid silhouettes with bright spandex leggings, striped socks, stompy Buffalo boots and geeky aviator glasses.
Mood board: The collection had all the Watanabe hits, like deconstructed suiting, with the sleeves of pinstripe blazers billowing like capes, leather jackets boasting architectural bulges, shirts and trenchcoats fanning across the body in pleats. Watanabe’s punk aesthetic is apparent in the way he cuts and splices his garments and favours animal prints and tartans, but there was also a sense of eighties post-workout ease to the collection, seen in those Spandex leggings, paired with fluffy mohair jumpers and fur coats. Watanabe favours practical performance pieces in his menswear line, and has collaborated with The North Face and Canada Goose on his outerwear. For A/W 2018 this aesthetic infiltrated his women's designs, seen in boxy puffer jackets and A-line anoraks.
Best in show: Hybrid styles are essential to Watanabe’s output, and the designer splices garments together into new innovative forms. For A/W 2018, he presented a series of pretty tea dresses, their shapes cut and pasted with knitwear necklines and sleeves.
Junya Watanabe A/W 2018
Junya Watanabe A/W 2018
Junya Watanabe A/W 2018
Junya Watanabe A/W 2018
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Glass designer Silje Lindrup finds inspiration in the material's unpredictabilityWallpaper* Future Icons: Danish glassmaker Silje Lindrup lets the material be in charge, creating a body of work that exists between utility and experimentation
-
Top 10 architecture moments of 2025Architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki picks the top 10 architecture moments of 2025, to recount, remember and reassess
-
Step inside this perfectly pitched stone cottage in the Scottish HighlandsA stone cottage transformed by award-winning Glasgow-based practice Loader Monteith reimagines an old dwelling near Inverness into a cosy contemporary home
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expectFive moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
-
Donna Trope celebrates the power of the Polaroid in Paris‘Polaroids used to be my rejects, and now they are my holy grail,’ says the beauty photographer, as she shows rarely seen images in a Paris exhibition
-
Palace unites with Rapha to celebrate inaugural Tour de France FemmesMarking the first time women will compete in the historic cycling race since the late 1980s, this new collaboration sees Palace Skateboards and Rapha create uniforms for both on and off the bike – including an ‘outlandish’ pair of Crocs
-
Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022: Chanel to Miu MiuIn this extended report, Wallpaper* updates you live from Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022 shows, with rolling coverage as runway events unfold
-
Scene-stealing runway sets from S/S 2022 womenswear showsFrom giant roulette wheels to Olympic diving boards and multi-city synchronized extravaganzas – our pick of the best fashion show sets from S/S 2022 womenswear
-
Louis Vuitton A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Chanel A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women’s -
Y/Project A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's