Junya Watanabe AW11

Style.com has likened Junya Watanabe’s AW11 collection to the style synonymous with the Parisian student riots of 1968. It’s a link I can understand - Watanabe’s models are draped roguishly with a collection of textures, materials and structures. All black, and all worn with an air of attitude and anarchy. It’s a stark contrast the hooded rioters of London, but then isn’t it human nature to look back on events with a rose-tinted romance?

Watanabe has taken the student staple leather jacket and transformed it. Much like his obsession with stripes for SS11, he has taken apart the scaffolding of a fashion staple and rebuilt it with volume and distinction. Just the simple addition of the hourglass shape to the leather jacket has transformed it from Judas Priest fan to Torture Garden patron.

It is the mix of textures that I find so stunning about this collection. The sweeping leather underneath the oversized and over-brushed faux fur further underpins the anarchic sentiments of the collection. The models wore their hair in a similarly disheveled style, whist keeping their makeup clean and neat. The stomping boots and thin knits gave a final nod to the rioters of 60’s Paris.