In an unusually forthcoming concession, Junya Watanabe said he "wanted to convey resort in a cool way" with his Spring collection. The resort he imagined was clearly somewhere with access to the great outdoors—hiking and fishing featured prominently as leisure activities, and Junya s direct inspiration was a company called Seil Marschall, which has, according to the label, been hand-making backpacks in "Good Old Germany" since 1896.
So the backpacks—and fishermen s bags—were the collection s fulcrum, matched to the mutated outerwear that was another essential component of the show. An inside-out patchwork of construction has become a clear Junya signature. As sophisticated as it undoubtedly is, it had a charming Elmer Fudd-ish naivete here, which the porkpie hats and sockless oxfords did their big-city best to counter.
For this onlooker, every Junya show reaches a point—one outfit—where the designer s intent coalesces into clarity. Here, that eureka moment was a cherry-red hiking jacket (Junya does mean reds and pinks), after which the clothes had a little more lead in their pencil, and resort did indeed take on a cool(-ish) mien. There was even a full-on floral—not to be confused with a Hawaiian shirt, even though a hibiscus featured prominently. Still, the merest whiff of Hawaii stirred memories of Junya s Aloha shirts from more than ten years ago, when his fascination with Americana led him down fascinatingly fetishistic paths.
What s happened since was defined by today s invitation, a contemplative image of primary-colored garden chairs facing a view of a tree-lined lake and mountains. It fit with the sweet, companionable mood of the collection itself, with the models greeting one another like hikers on a trail as they crisscrossed the catwalk. If there was ever angst in a Junya collection (and there was), it has been processed and filed away.
