Initial reaction:
Life is like a scratched up record – discordant, going at different paces and never turning out how you would expect. Junya Watanabe's patchworking isn't just pure aesthetics. They tell a tale. These clothes have stories hidden in amongst the crazily paved rectangles of tweed, velvet, satin, wool, sequins and beading all in black.
The way they walked:
The first model walked out at a deathly slow pace and then the second sped past her. The pace was mixed up throughout as Watanabe seemed to pass comment on the pace of life itself – sometimes you need to slow down and take stock and sometimes you need to charge ahead of the pack. It made for an exhilarating spectacle as the classical soundtrack was similarly sped up, slowed down and remixed beyond recognition.
Blackout:
Save for a cream patchwork cable knit jumper, the entire show was an essay in textures of black. There were fifty, nay hundred shades of black though as the various modes of patchworking (rectangles, godets, squares, circles) were rendered in a mesmerising array of materials.
Hair:
Lacquered, distorted and of course in black – sections of these sculpted coiffures were haphazardly bent out of shape, sometimes obscuring the face. Like the soundtrack, they resembled broken records.
Standout looks:
Watanabe's fascination with the puffa jacket manifests itself in sweeping coats, in an almost grey velvet. A leather puffa jacket is also slicked in jet black glitter. The diehard Junya raven mavens will be rubbing their hands with glee.
