Junya Watanabe SS26 finds harmony in fray, flare, and funk
Punk academia is back
If you thought academia and punk couldn’t live in the same outfit, allow Junya Watanabe make you think twice. Spring-summer 2026 is a sartorial seminar in contradiction, collision, and controlled chaos. Imagine your college professor after three shots of espresso, a punk documentary binge, and a trip to a vintage furniture fair. That’s the energy.
The collection riffs on nostalgia but not the sentimental kind. More like: here’s an old chair, let’s turn it into a suit. Junya’s signature upholstery fabric tailoring, last seen in FW2004, returns like a thesis rewritten from scratch. Only now it’s bolder, looser, and way more fun.
Stripes are everywhere, on everything, and in every direction. Stripes on stripes, stripes on florals, stripes cutting across jacquard like exclamation points. They’re loud, layered, and illogically appealing.
Polos this season are oversized, asymmetrical, and almost sculptural.They’re slouchy, dramatic, and weirdly elegant. And then there are the neckties. Yes, neckties. Sometimes classic, sometimes doubled-up or deconstructed, styled like a rebellion against dress codes rather than adherence to them.
Bottoms? Don’t expect cohesion. There are flappy hems that dance with every step, flared trousers that recall ‘70s rebellion, frayed denims that look like they’ve survived something (and probably have,) and pants patched in all the places you wouldn’t expect. Somehow, it all works. It’s a wild diagram of silhouettes, all pointing to freedom.
It’s all very Junya: the academic punk, the meticulous rebel. Spring-summer 2026 feels like a remix of his archival ideas “old but new,” just like he said.
