Paris Fashion Week: Junya Watanabe takes the men’s suit from business trip to acid trip

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Clean, controlled and free of extraneous details. That was the take-away from the Junya Watanabe collection, in which the men’s suit was the starting point for a rigorous exercise in tailoring that resulted in subtly feminine details.

The jacket was the centerpiece, and Watanabe molded it like clay, pinching fabric at the small of the back to highlight the waist, and placing jutting darts at the hips to emphasize the hourglass shape.

The basic white button-down shirt was cut and draped, ruched and tucked to create softly sculptural dresses, worn over black leggings.

Then things turned edgier -- as if the men’s suit went on an acid trip -- with black-and-white checkerboard and houndstooth-patterned, sharp- shouldered jackets. Rather than buttons, they were held together with chains. Softly cocooning, asymmetrically-draped mini skirts and dresses had a bit of the Mad Hatter in them.

It was a marvel to watch the creative process unfold. But pick apart the collection and there was actually a lot to wear.

-- Booth Moore

Photos: Junya Watanabe’s Spring-Summer 2010 runway

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