Junya Watanabe

Born in 1961 in Fukushima (Japan), Junya Watanabe joined Comme des Garçons in 1984 after graduating in Design at Bunka Fashion College. He embarked on his design career by working for the Comme des Garçons Tricot label in 1987. In 1992, he designed his first namesake collection Junya Watanabe, for women, under the Comme des Garçons umbrella. This debuted at Tokyo fashion week, and one year later at Paris Fashion Week. He received the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix in 1993 and 1999.