Junya Watanabe Took Dr. Martens' Punk Cred to a Semi-Logical Extreme
Junya Watanabe has two collaborative modes: Normal and Junya Watanabe. The COMME des GARÇONS designer's Dr. Martens boot collaboration is very much the latter.
Revealed on Watanabe's Fall/Winter 2025 Paris Fashion Week runway show, the Junya Watanabe x Dr. Martens collection turns classic boots on their head.
Literally!
The most extreme example of Watanabe's Dr. Martens machinations came by way of a jacket fitted with two upside-down black boots fitted to the garments' shoulders. Wacky stuff.
More grounded are the actual Junya Watanabe Dr. Martens boots, which are pretty quintessential Watanabe.
Whereas Watanabe's menswear label often issues rather ordinary collaborative shoes — behold, a normal shoe in a colorless colorway — his Dr. Martens have his fingerprints all over them. Or at least his name.
Yes, Watanabe's all-caps moniker is slapped onto the tongue of his tall Docs, rendered punkish through some extreme studding all across the exterior.
Otherwise, though, these are basically just Docs, down to the black leather upper and classic yellow-switched non-slip sole.
Cubism was the inspiration for Watanabe's FW25 womenswear collection, leading to a whole host of quintessentially punk staples remade as outré statement pieces. Would Picasso approve of Watanabe's melted bombers and sculptural trench coats? Perhaps. But Westwood likely would.
