Junya Watanabe S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women's

Junya Watanabe S/S 2019

(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

last updated 15 July 2022

Mood board: Before hybrid garments were the silhouette du jour, there was Junya Watanabe. The Japanese designer is renowned for his spliced, mash-up aesthetic, which sees him deconstruct and piece garments back together with the precision of a punk tailor. Watanabe adopted more of a couturier’s sensibility for S/S 2019 – with a spring offering presented to a spectacularly uplifting Queen soundtrack – which fused his signature denim and patchwork tartan with voluminous tulle petticoats, evening gown silhouettes and pleated volumes. Burgeoning Parisian designers like Marine Serre and Y/Project’s Glenn Martens have taken a couture-inspired approach to their spring collections. Amongst new streetwear norms and sporty aesthetics, are these proportions the new rebellion?

Best in show: Distinctive shapes and silhouettes were cut and spliced together. Take a pair of dungarees, one leg a straight jean silhouette, the other a petticoat of voluminous net, a stripe t-shirt spliced together with a pretty puffball dress. Elsewhere there were patched denim overcoats, bias cut gowns dressed down with t-shirts and tattoo motif body suits, and band t-shirts that will all sing on the shop floor.

Finishing touches: Just in case those couture shapes and swathes of tulle and net got a little too saccharine, models strode the catwalk to Queen’s The Millionaire Waltz and Somebody to Love, in highlighter hue cropped wigs, punk dog collar necklaces and stacked Buffalo boots.

Junya Watanabe S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women&rsquo;s — Junya Watanabe S/S 2019.

Junya Watanabe S/S 2019 Paris Fashion Week Women's — Junya Watanabe S/S 2019.

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