Junya Watanabe Goes HEAVY on the Collab Front in SS24 Fashion Show

Junya Watanabe might just be the most prolific collaborator in the fashion industry. Every time the Japanese streetwear magnate hits the runway, fans are blessed with monochromatic garments that are often adorned with patches from your favourite brands like Palace, Stüssy, Carhartt and Nike.

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It’s not like Junya is the only one working with the aforementioned brands, but the way that each singular identity is morphed into a unique piece is something to be admired and this year, Junya went all-out to create wearable art with features from your favourite streetwear imprints.

Putting the collaboration smorgasbord aside, the contemporary workwear aesthetic once again played a starring role in Junya’s latest outing. Hard wearing cotton, mesh and selvedge denim were favoured by Junya for his mainline pieces, with overshirts and jackets cut to boxy, oversized fits - not skimping on the functional front, using pockets, 3m tabs and fastenings most liberally to create a pseudo utilitarian collection that in part, would look equally at home worn by roadside workers as it would on any one of fashion week’s tourists.

Moving onto the real meat and potatoes, first Junya plastered Stüssy’s stock logo on a sleeveless hoodie with large metal eyelets along the sides, also using Carhartt’s trustworthy stamp on a leather jacket.

A similar principle was followed on the Palace Skateboards four pocket overshirt and jumpsuit that featured an equal number of any-hundred patches pulled from the Palace archives. 

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Amongst the usual suspects, a surprise collaboration with C.P reared its head in the form of an oversized navy parka, complete with C.P’s staple goggle detailing and toggles aplenty to create a minimalistic parka that harks back to the early days of C.P.

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More subtle partnerships with Oakley, Baracuta, New Balance and Maison Kitsune, to name a few (more) were also revealed during the SS24 showcase.

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Expect all of the above to release over the next year.