Japanese designers shine in Paris with Junya Watanabe, Noir and Comme des garçons

Paris Fashion Week buzzed on Saturday with the spectacular creations of Japanese designers. On the sixth day of the women’s ready-to-wear shows dedicated to Spring/Summer 2025, three of the most emblematic houses of the Japanese avant-garde shone with sculptural silhouettes and sophisticated constructions. These were Junya Watanabe, Noir by designer Kei Ninomiya and Comme des garçons.
 

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In a 1980s disco atmosphere, with Sam Smith’s version of I feel love by Donna Summer at full blast, Junya Watanabe sent an army of neo-Amazons walking down the catwalk in hyper-protective shell outfits. To create his collection for next summer, the designer delved into the world of motorcycling, collecting the complete biker outfit, which he deconstructed to create daring looks for the futuristic dark lady.
 
He sourced his products from Japanese equipment manufacturer Degner, which has been serving motorbike and racing enthusiasts since 1987. Leather suits, nylon panniers, tyres, gloves, reflective materials, straps, anti-slip rubber and other accessories… The designer threw nothing away, cutting it up into small pieces or meticulously deconstructing it, then ingeniously reassembling all these elements like a jigsaw puzzle.
 
Under her magic wand, these sections of different technical materials are transformed into solid patchwork coats with an Art Deco style. With multi-pocket zipped bags, he creates parachute dresses or oversized jackets, while thermal blankets of some sort are used to create superb shimmering silver ball gowns, and floor mats are used as basques in crinoline dresses.
 
“I think that abnormal clothes are necessary in our daily lives. This collection has been created by recycling modern, everyday materials and using sculptural techniques,” says Junya Watanabe in her statement of intent.
 

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At Noir, Kei Ninomiya also relies on spectacular three-dimensional outfits. As always, he started with a predominantly black base, which he enhanced with vibrant shades of red. Sporting socks and pearl-embellished sneakers, the result of a collaboration with Reebok, the models all donned voluminous outfits. As hats, they wore strange copper pots and watering cans turned upside down on their heads, displaying cascades of curls.
 
The women imagined by the designer seem to have stepped straight out of a fairytale, somewhere between princesses and witches. Thousands of fabric balls, each pulsing with a red glow, made up the first look, while the wedding dress, which closed the show, literally glowed in the dark, with a myriad of luminous bulbs in the shape of flowers. Elsewhere, an enormous poisonous flower opened and closed its large fishnet petals, edged in leather, across the torso and chest. Alongside the flowers, mouths large and small, red and black, also punctuated the collection.
 
Kei Ninomiya explored new shapes and all kinds of materials, such as lace made from plastic mesh or expanding foam, generally used in construction, which he used to line pieces of tulle. This extravagant decorum and large plumes of tulle were applied to harnesses to be slipped over an everyday wardrobe to embellish and subvert it. In the same vein, the designer made lattices from fine metal chains or coloured leather to superimpose over dresses. He is obsessed with belts and braces, which are infinitely multiplied in unusual jackets.

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To round off this stimulating day, Comme des garçons once again scored a major coup with a high-impact collection that resonated deeply with current events and the troubled times we’re living through. Just like the three imposing final silhouettes in immaculate white “cloud” dresses, which exploded in huge puffs. Ballooned in tulle, with thick layers, bows and ruffles, they were also constructed from a pile of plastic bags. At the end of the show and the music, the three models froze for several seconds, staring at the audience as if making a heart-rending plea for peace.
 
The previous models used the same bubbling cocoon crinoline structure, but they were stained red. Here again, Japanese fashion queen Rei Kawakubo played with cotton or tulle protrusions, or stacked transparent cushion covers, but the latter were stuffed with a fabric splattered with red stains, like blood… A black dress with large baskets swelling on the hips hid a tulle train in the back studded with posters and militant leaflets issuing SOS messages against global warming.

In another series of creations, the models disappeared completely beneath large square or pointed covers, like tents, cut from fabulous brocade fabrics. The small slit at the height of the head makes it impossible to even make out the face. Big red ribbons sometimes wrapped around this single opening, tightening it. It’s hard not to think of the condition of women in many countries around the world, especially Afghanistan.
 
Other ceremonial dresses had giant, misshapen sleeves that restricted the arms, just like the first looks on the catwalk. Rigid, they impeded movement, forcing the models to take small, slow steps; they were dressed in sort of large antique columns or cloche dresses encased in a strange coating that had solidified. Rei Kawakubo seems to be telling us that there is very little hope left.