Supreme hooks up with Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons MAN
...and it’s one of their finest collabs yet.
Supreme is back (back, BACK!) with a collaboration coming hot on the heels of their recent Timberland hook-up: a joint venture with the ever-elusive, much-loved world of Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons Man.
Watanabe set the tone for his hell-raising designs back in 1992, when he debuted his eponymous collection in Tokyo. Sending models down the runway with spiked hair, worn and torn knitwear, layered fabrics and proportions ever-so-fucked-up, the Bunka Fashion College graduate of 1984 (previous alumni include Yohji Yamamoto and Kenzo Takada) would soon go on to work under Rei Kawakubo as a patternmaking apprentice at Comme des Garçons.
After the holy teachings of Kawakubo, Watanabe set out to innovate and rub the fashion status-quo raw. In the decade following his debut, he trialled experimental concepts and ingenious fabric sourcing, often using synthetics, industrial textiles and inventive draping techniques. Now, influenced by his own archives, Watanabe’s collaboration with Supreme looks to his eponymous label’s AW16 collection, which reinvented everyday pieces, such as leather jackets, striped shirts and denim coats, with his signature patch-working, both deeply intricate but wholly practical and utilitarian.
In doing so, the collection becomes a mash-up of Watanabe’s finest sartorial moments and the NYC brand’s finesse for youth culture: baggy khaki trousers with patchwork textiles, a printed, hooded Gore-Tex denim parka, striped T‑shirts featuring Watanabe’s idiosyncratic graphics – oh, and a razor-sharp Schott leather peacoat.
Forget the savings – nevermind Christmas pressies for your ma.
