Junya Watanabe

Born in Fukushima in 1961, Junya Watanabe graduated from Bunka Fashion College in 1984 and joined Comme des Garçons directly under Rei Kawakubo, designing the Tricot line before launching his own label under the CdG umbrella in 1992 and debuting in Paris in 1993. Working with a near-monastic devotion to technique, he built a reputation for engineering-led womenswear — origami-folded denim, honeycomb pleating, transformable trenches — and a parallel menswear line founded in 2001 known for its collaborations with American workwear and outdoor heritage brands. His shows have become studies in single-material experimentation, from cellophane to upcycled army surplus. He remains one of the most respected technical minds in fashion, working out of the CdG studio in Aoyama.