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Ensemble

Designer Junya Watanabe Japanese
fall/winter 2000–2001
Not on view
Junya Watanabe referred to his fall/winter 2000-2001 collection as "techno-couture." Indeed, this ensemble, with the explicit flourish of labor and controlled technique in its gargantuan, honeycomb ruff and the innovative fabrics, merges the artisanal and the experimental. The ruff, which is separate from the dress, can be collapsed into a small looped rectangle and stored in an envelope. The dress, a sleeveless sheath with a narrow flared hem, is draped so as to introduce angled bunching at the waist and hipline, as if it had been skewed inadvertently. That this "imperfection" is built into the dress is a manifestation of the designer's subtly "twisted" and subversive ideal of imperfect beauty.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ensemble
  • Designer: Junya Watanabe (Japanese, born 1961)
  • Date: fall/winter 2000–2001
  • Culture: Japanese
  • Medium: polyester
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Richard Martin Bequest, 2001
  • Object Number: 2001.742a, b
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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Ensemble
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Ensemble, Junya Watanabe Japanese, cotton, metal, Japanese
Ensemble
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spring/summer 2003
Dress, Junya Watanabe Japanese, cotton, nylon, plastic, Japanese
Dress
Junya Watanabe
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Skirt
Junya Watanabe
spring/summer 2003
Ensemble, Junya Watanabe Japanese, wool, polyester, plastic (polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride), nylon, cotton, mother-of-pearl, Japanese
Ensemble
Junya Watanabe
fall/winter 2015–16

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