Junya Watanabe is a Japanese fashion designer who originally studied under Comme des Garcons designer, Rei Kawakubo. A graduate of Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo in 1984, he began his career as a patternmaker at CDG and was soon promoted to chief designer of the Tricot line, followed by CDG Homme. He started his own line under the label, called Junya Watanabe Comme des Garcons, in 1993 and began showing in Paris. As is his mentor, Watanabe is renowned for his innovative and distinctly avant-garde, technically brilliant style in his experiments with cutting-edge fabrics, original tailoring and complex draping.