Junya Watanabe
Presented in the cloister of Paris’ Abbaye royal du Val-de-Grâce, sun streaming through the arches, the civilized collection focused on relaxed, summery, robust wardrobe men’s staples.
The casual-dapper mood telegraphed a refined, masculine lifestyle with the message underscored by mentions of Junya Watanabe’s favorite addresses shared on looks — think cult London restaurant St. John, whose name adorned a workwear jacket, worn with a cream denim pant with a huge rolled-up cuff; the Amsterdam Tulip Museum, and the London bookshop MagCulture.
The sense of community extended to Watanabe’s usual string of collaborations weaving through the collection, with logos by everything from Canada Goose to Levi’s and Carhartt subtly peppering pieces.
The themes included fine lines of construction seams used as patterns on jackets, leading to heavy, more structured patchworks that, along with the rumpled, natural fabrics and soft pants — in washed fabrics and worn rolled up — channeled a vagabond vibe.
Another was the great hybrid outerwear pieces that morphed generic tailoring, military and casual men’s staples. They went from a denim jacket fused with a black raincoat to a khaki safari vest with patch pockets set into a gray tailored coat, giving a graphic, two-in-one, mixedmessage edge.