Quiet Riot - NYT

[nqth]

from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/magazine/09style.html

Quiet Riot

Photographs by WILLY VANDERPERRE
Text by CATHY HORYN

Published: July 9, 2006

Trying to uncork the illuminations of the designer Junya Watanabe will leave you feeling flat. Here's a snippet from a recent, uh, interview in Paris, where he shows his collections for men and women. Junya, what do you do in your spare time? "Probably the same things you do in your spare time." (Mental picture: Junya sorting laundry, arranging his springtime flower box.. . .) What was the last movie you saw? "Probably something I saw on an airplane." (No mental picture available.) Junya, your clothes seem very American in their outlook. You've done collections around the military and the Wild West, for instance. Have you traveled a lot in the United States? "I've visited Honolulu and New York." Say no more!


Maybe it's a guy thing, this reluctance to explain his motives. Few designers, in any case, are more sensitive to the basic concern of young men, which is to look cool. If Watanabe's women's collections tend to display his inventive cutting (he began his career as a pattern maker for Rei Kawakubo, whose Tokyo-based company, Comme des Garçons, gave him his own label in 1992), his men's clothes get their credibility from the world of work and sports. For a while now he has been collaborating with companies like Carhartt, Moncler and Ben Sherman, labels that were decidedly unhip until some kid started wearing their clothes in the street. Watanabe's designs seldom strain the original concept. That's his genius as a men's wear designer. This past winter, in a collection that acknowledged the old-school style favored by snowboarders, he offered Moncler down vests in washed Donegal tweed. Perfect for wearing under your blazer — if you could get your hands on one.

The thing is, Watanabe does his homework and then he lets his creative eye take over. When he showed his spring collection of engineer-striped denim and Dickies and Pointer Brand workwear, the models wore overbright Lacoste polo shirts and Jack Purcell sneakers, and you thought, What's up with this? But the cut of the narrow, droopy jeans was just right, the attitude recognizably masculine. I've never heard so many men in the front row say with relief, "Thank God, something to wear."

[VivianL]

thanks for the post

[zamb]

looks like i need to find a store thats stocks junya Homme in NYC!

[faust]

1. blah - this collection sucked by any standards. sorry, but it was just plain boring, especially for the prices he demanded. i'm getting tired of all this $1000 "wearable" crap, really. If I want "wearable" (meaning nothing special, casual, every day clothes), I can go much cheaper routs and spend my money elsewhere.

2. what is the point of that photoshoot, showcasing clothes that are already on clearance sale at dept stores?

[aldn]

Originally Posted by faust

1. blah - this collection sucked by any standards. sorry, but it was just plain boring, especially for the prices he demanded. i'm getting tired of all this $1000 "wearable" crap, really. If I want "wearable" (meaning nothing special, casual, every day clothes), I can go much cheaper routs and spend my money elsewhere.

2. what is the point of that photoshoot, showcasing clothes that are already on clearance sale at dept stores?

[Scott]

You took the words right from my finger-tips,Faust. Sorry but I agree this is quite non-descript.

[nqth]

You are welcome, VivianL:-)

[softgrey]

OMG...what a beautiful shoot...!!!......
gorgeous lighting and really good styling!!!...


everythiing is rolled and flipped just so...
it doesn't look forced but it si incredibly stylised...
LOVE IT!!!.....


thanks so much for posting nqth...
it really shows the clothes the way they are meant to be worn...
effortlessly stylish...and very masculine...

brilliant...

[nqth]

You are welcome Softgrey:-)

I am so glad that you like the shoot. Yep, very very effortlessly chic, which is quite rarely seen this day imo. The clothes are quite hard to wear to me indeed. He cut them very large. I tried on a S dbl jkt and everything was in place, but it looked just huge:-)) The fabric's treatment is just lovely, as well as details... Very summery and easy indeed.

[Estella*]

thanks for posting, nqth!
here's a thread on vanderperre for anyone interested:
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums...ml#post2084498

[Pastry]

i don't know..i'd expect cathy horyn to be honest about this one...it wasn't very good.

and the men sitting in the front row saying "finally! something to wear!" must have been the same men who buy dsquared.

[nqth]

You are welcome, Estella:-)


Pastry, what made you think that the men in JW front row are buyng d2?
The collection looks not good to you, but why do you think CH is dishonest by liking it?

[Pastry]

^ i really respect horyn's writing..but i don't buy that she likes the collection..it doesn't seem like something she'd like.

maybe you need to see these clothes upclose...perhaps i'm missing something. from the photos it doesn't seem like a good collection, that's all. there were better ones, imo..

[Baizilla]

thanks, nqth!

One of Junya's better menswear collections.. but in general, his menswear has never really appealed to me as much as his womenswear.

I agree, the shoot is very lovely.

[nqth]

You are welcome, Baizilla:-)

Pastry, I remember CH's review on men shows SS06 and she said the word "modern" again and again, which quite irritated me at that time. (Why men should look modern, but anything that they want to:-P) And I think this coll. has a very modern take in workwear and menswear as a whole. When eveybody is "obssesed" about a. being thin, b. being poetic, c. being vampire, d. being a rock star... he took a man's ordinary garment and reworked it into fine clothes. I think if she didn't like it, she would not write a word about it.