Fear isn t necessarily an emotion one expects to feel at a fashion show, but the thousand-yard stare on one of Junya Watanabe s models sent a frisson down the front row. The guy was a ringer for Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. Watanabe, though, was actually taking his cues from another vigilante psycho. His models in their Mohawks and army-surplus outerwear (with deeply ironic LOVE appliqués) evoked Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver, the Scorsese movie whose soundtrack played throughout.
The designer claimed Bickle as a positive inspiration. "Motivation," he said via his translator. "Men should take charge." However dubious the line of logic, it produced some intriguing clothes. Travis s camo appeared as a beautifully cut jacket; olive-drab made an equally elegant coat. Or it was patchworked for a pair of trousers. A flight jacket was elongated into a parka.
These were all minor masterpieces of recycling. But what made them more remarkable was the sense of an outsider s eye trained wonderingly on an entirely alien culture. Watanabe has always excelled at this perspective. That s how he can conceive of his Travis Bickle in ethnic knitwear, or a shearling-lined nylon jacket in a lustrous, positively glamorous purple. Weird, but also a little wonderful.
