Supreme has a storied history of working with Japanese designers. Just last year, the brand released a collaborative collection with Yohji Yamamoto and in previous seasons, Supreme has collaborated with prominent Japanese brands like Undercover to WTAPS. For Week 11 of Fall/Winter 2021, Supreme has teamed up for the first time with storied Japanese Junya Watanabe. The subject of this week’s Supreme Pick of the Week is the Junya Watanabe Patchwork Puffy Jacket that just released as part of the collection in black and olive green.
The Supreme x Junya Watanabe CdG Man Patchwork Puffy Jacket, like most other pieces from the collection, is a piece that makes reference to the Japanese designer’s archive. This Puffy Jacket, which featured a cotton patchwork pattern and was actually manufactured in Japan, is likely a reference to a similar jacket sent down the runway by Junya Watanabe in 2006. This referential design is the case with multiple pieces from the collection like the hoodies which feature patterns from a runway show in 2002 or the Navy Plaid Work Jacket which is reminiscent of a runway piece from 2014.
In terms of construction, the Supreme x Junya Watanabe CdG Man Patchwork Jacket is made from 100% cotton and features filled interior quilted baffles and lining for warmth. The hood on this jacket is removable and printed Supreme x Junya Watanabe logos can be found on the front and back of the garment. It was delivered in two colors, black and olive green, at the retail price of $648, a conservative middle ground between the Supreme and Junya Watanabe’s traditional jacket price points.
Junya Watanabe is one of the most storied designers to come out of Japan, a country very well known for its lengthy list of fashion superstars. In 1984, Watanabe started as an apprentice patternmaker at Comme des Garçons, working directly under the brand’s legendary founder, Rei Kawakubo. In 1992, Watanabe was given his own line under the Comme des Garçons brand; Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons. He began showing women’s clothing that same year and in 2001, Junya Watanabe debuted his first men’s fashion show.
Known for his avant-garde style, Watanabe has played a significant part in the Comme des Garçons ethos. His shows are traditionally met with high regard, though words like “complex” or “intellectual” are often thrown around in order to define the often abstract nature of Watanabe’s pieces. In recent years, the designer has collaborated with brands like The North Face and Carhartt, dissecting and reworking some of their most iconic garments.
Supreme’s Junya Watanabe collaboration comes at the perfect time as the designer has recently seen a spike in popularity, courtesy of figures like Kanye West and Playboi Carti. West’s most recent album, Donda, which was released just two months ago in September of 2021, features a song titled “Junya” that also features Playboi Carti. On the song, Kanye West references the designer while talking about his watch and Carti. The release of the song just two months prior to Supreme’s Junya Watanabe collaboration is almost too serendipitous to be coincidental.
Both colorways of the Supreme x Junya Watanabe Patchwork Puffy Jacket as well as other popular pieces from the collection can be shopped on StockX below.
