Junya Watanabe has been having a lot of fun recently. Last season, the Japanese designer created dresses from shells, stuffed animals and motorcyclist protective gear. This season, meanwhile, he kicked off Paris Fashion Week’s SS27 Japan day (the unofficial day each season when avant-garde Japanese designers, including Watanabe, Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons and Noir Kei Ninomiya, all present their collections), with a show that erupted with joy.
Even the models couldn’t help but smile while stomping down the runway. Among them, R&B star Ciara made her catwalk debut – singing along to Chaka Khan’s “Like Sugar”. The singer and her baby bump stole the show in three different looks, including a full-on chandelier, which stretched from her head to her knees.
There’s no designer quite like Watanabe and certainly no other who would bring together punks, cyborgs and witches in one collection. The colour palette was made up mostly of black and pink, with each model wearing an athletic, form-fitting two piece (almost like sportswear) as their base layer.
On top of that, most models were decorated with some sort of heavy metalwear. This was seen in the form of Ciara’s chandelier, as well as a bulging black bra that featured enormous protruding spikes – the type of look you wouldn’t want to get too close to.
Paloma Elsesser wore a pair of gloves made from silver studs, a witchy black hat worn slightly to the side and an oversized belt, punctured with silver eyelets. There was a breastplate with swords jutting out from it, and another, featuring short fat spikes (unlike the longer sea urchin-style ones seen previously).
By pairing each model’s soft, skintight base layer with a threateningly protective metal outerlayer, Watanabe was giving his women a suit of armour. It was a collection that brought a much-needed injection of fun and frivolity to Paris Fashion Week, but make no mistake, the Watanabe woman is not to be messed with.
Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.
Shutting down a Paris library and blasting Troye Sivan on loop, Alessandro Michele presented a party-ready offering while gathering book recs from the front row