Junya Watanabe

Junya Watanabe is one of the most well-known Comme Des Garcons proteges. Watanabe studied at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, before beginning an apprenticeship as a Pattern maker at Comme Des Garcons. After a few years he moved to the design side of the Tricot line and then the Homme line. In 1992 he started designing under his own name for Comme Des Garcons, showing his first women's show in Paris in 1993, and in 2001 he expanded his label to create his first men’s line. Like his mentor Rei Kawakubo, Watanabe is known for his Avant Garde designs and use of synthetic materials. Being reserved himself, other than a bow at the end of his four shows a year, Watanabe almost never gives interviews and is rarely in the spotlight.