Junya Watanabe Man S/s 05

[faust]

rei and junya must be the two busiest designers in the world, with all the stores, collaborations, diffusion lines, etc...

 

[tricotineacetat]

OK, no more Comme des Garcons + blablabla lines... PLEASE! I find it quite gross, the way they are jumping on and off concepts, and they are never really well thought-out too... I already disliked this a lot when they started with those hideous, basic Fred Perry polo shirts with a small CdG embroidery on the chest... what´s so Comme about this? it´s all just about making overprized designer merchandise...

 

[macchiom]

OK, no more Comme des Garcons + blablabla lines... PLEASE! I find it quite gross, the way they are jumping on and off concepts, and they are never really well thought-out too... I already disliked this a lot when they started with those hideous, basic Fred Perry polo shirts with a small CdG embroidery on the chest... what´s so Comme about this? it´s all just about making overprized designer merchandise...

I tend to agree, though I liked Junya’s initial collaboration with Levi’s.

 

[faust]

I tend to agree, though I liked Junya’s initial collaboration with Levi’s.

yea, me too. i still want a pair of jeans from the first collection.

 

[whizkit]

OK, no more Comme des Garcons + blablabla lines... PLEASE! I find it quite gross, the way they are jumping on and off concepts, and they are never really well thought-out too... I already disliked this a lot when they started with those hideous, basic Fred Perry polo shirts with a small CdG embroidery on the chest... what´s so Comme about this? it´s all just about making overprized designer merchandise...

I like the fred perry polos. The details like mismatched sleeve and collar trims and unusual colourways are subtle comme touches. While I don't deny that this is in part a branding exercise, it's purpose may be to allow cdg to be more accessible and palatable to the less adventurous. However, I don't really like the addition of the cdg branding on the shirts.

nqth, thanks for the pics, I like the tartan jacket. It's something I would wear if I have winter over here.

 

[tricotineacetat]

I tend to agree, though I liked Junya’s initial collaboration with Levi’s.

I agree on that one since it wasn´t just about adding a logo to an existing garment - even if it´s just on the inside. Those sportsjackets... I really don´t see what´s so Junya about the black one, the checked is another story, I agree.

Yohji also started to do such collaborations, there are some Moncler down jackets in the Y´s for Men collection for this upcoming winter as well as shirts by Alberto Aspesi... I never knew for what purpose they were in the collection since they were just expensive and... well, basic, without anything particularly design-ish about them.

 

[macchiom]

yea, me too. i still want a pair of jeans from the first collection.

I do appreciate my jeans from that collection, though I’ve never seen a garment collecting dirt as quickly as them.

Yohji also started to do such collaborations, there are some Moncler down jackets in the Y´s for Men collection for this upcoming winter as well as shirts by Alberto Aspesi... I never knew for what purpose they were in the collection since they were just expensive and... well, basic, without anything particularly design-ish about them.

Junya has also made some jackets in collaboration with Moncler, as far as I remember.

 

[nqth]

You are welcome, Whizkit:-)

Wait for the JW and Lacoste colla next SS. I still can't believe it. I have heard theses are cotton polos, not cashmere or sth, but prices are crazy:-)

 

[Johnny]

Don't really know what to make of this, although I tend to agree with Tricot - too much with the collaboration thing already. I'm not sure it's just a branding exercise though, in the sense of it simply being a cynical marketing ploy. I think that comme/Junya see collaboration with an existing "heritage" or otherwise well known brand as a concept in itself, part of making clothes more "real" and relevant. Even when it's not so open as this, Junya is still working with traditional brands in making the JWM clothes, like the skiwear company (Godwin) used to make the SS and (presumably) AW jackets. This is really only relevant for these designers for menswear. The philosohpy (particularly Junya's) is that you can't really improve on these things - levis jeans, lewis leathers biker jackets, north face outerwear - but what you can do is play around with the basic templates, keeping the integrity of the product, and doing something that is unexpected but not so different that the original is obliterated. In a way it's a very modest way of making clothes - it does not assume that the designer can improve on what already exists, just that you can look at it in different ways.

Where it comes unstuck a little is where you have to pay three or four times the "original" price to get the Junya branding. Looking again at some of the winter jackets, they really do just look like normal ski jackets. The most even the most technical of those would ever cost is £400 or so, but there are some Junya ones, even from summer, that were over double that. In a way (at least in Europe) we're paying for inefficiency - smaller production, import duties from Japan etc. I don't think the quality will be better just because it's made in Japan. It says that on the levis products though, although not on any of the others.

Anyway, thanks for the pics Nqth. I actually like the checked jacket very much, but the express labelling does, as you say, cut accross the previously mooted justification for these types of comme clothes!

 

[nqth]

You are welcome, Johnny:-)

I think this it is prob. Japan only, prob. for young ppls. Maybe DSM will have some of those. But pls note that Comme makes specjal new shop for this, not to "fuse" with their "regulars".

 

[faust]

Don't really know what to make of this, although I tend to agree with Tricot - too much with the collaboration thing already. I'm not sure it's just a branding exercise though, in the sense of it simply being a cynical marketing ploy. I think that comme/Junya see collaboration with an existing "heritage" or otherwise well known brand as a concept in itself, part of making clothes more "real" and relevant. Even when it's not so open as this, Junya is still working with traditional brands in making the JWM clothes, like the skiwear company (Godwin) used to make the SS and (presumably) AW jackets. This is really only relevant for these designers for menswear. The philosohpy (particularly Junya's) is that you can't really improve on these things - levis jeans, lewis leathers biker jackets, north face outerwear - but what you can do is play around with the basic templates, keeping the integrity of the product, and doing something that is unexpected but not so different that the original is obliterated. In a way it's a very modest way of making clothes - it does not assume that the designer can improve on what already exists, just that you can look at it in different ways.

Where it comes unstuck a little is where you have to pay three or four times the "original" price to get the Junya branding. Looking again at some of the winter jackets, they really do just look like normal ski jackets. The most even the most technical of those would ever cost is £400 or so, but there are some Junya ones, even from summer, that were over double that. In a way (at least in Europe) we're paying for inefficiency - smaller production, import duties from Japan etc. I don't think the quality will be better just because it's made in Japan. It says that on the levis products though, although not on any of the others.

Anyway, thanks for the pics Nqth. I actually like the checked jacket very much, but the express labelling does, as you say, cut accross the previously mooted justification for these types of comme clothes!

Very well said, Johnny - although the significantly higher price seems to still leave you wondering, as it should. I guess we'll just leave the price question up to the potential customer on this one.

 

[Johnny]

Very well said, Johnny - although the significantly higher price seems to still leave you wondering, as it should. I guess we'll just leave the price question up to the potential customer on this one.

Thanks Faust. I don't know what to make of the pries at all, although from what I hear the winter clothes are actually cheaper than the summer ones. Not sure why. Maybe it's because the summer ones were just so ridiculously expensive. The sales assistants at DSM were sort of at a loss as to how to explain the price point to customers. Having said that they're still not bargain basement!

Anyway I couldn't resist - so see shopaholics thread in a min!

 

[helena]

what....?

 

[faust]

/\ there go your hopes for a new house, helena


Agreed Johnny, the S/S prices were off-putting, going over to the thread