junya watanabe

With each person I style profile for Third Looks I feel as though I get to know them better just through exploring what their wardrobe and personal style is like. While fashion is given a bad rap in terms of being materialistic and shallow, I think style is a really good indicator of someone’s creativity, character and influences.

When I first met Kyle I thought he dressed pretty low key but as I got to know him I realized his wardrobe had tons of depth and he always wore his pieces in creative ways. More so I feel that his sartorial choies are aligned with his personality and lifestyle and he makes it work for him. It’s easy to just fetishize pieces and grails but I think men would benefit from reflecting on their lifestyles and choosing the clothes that not only look great on the rack, but also fit the way they live.

I think I’ve probably always had an interest in clothes and making myself look at least halfway decent, but a lot of it really stems from interests in other things that have a strong focus on personal style.

For me snowboarding was always huge for this, along with different BMX styles of riding. Then came cars and the various scenes around that.  I guess I’ve always been drawn to these things that really embrace showing your personality and personal style through such conspicuously physical ways, so clothes are just an extension of that and an easy way to do it while living in New York since I’m not snowboarding, riding, or driving much anymore here. 

This is a really good question as I can’t say it’s something I’ve ever thought about before. I guess I’m long past the point where I’m filling any (perceived) “holes” in my wardrobe, but I’ve gotta say I really like going out and seeing what’s out there.  I have some favorite shops I’ll always check and other ones I’ll just stumble in occasionally, but I think it’s important to get out there and see what’s going on. Part of this is that there is so much good stuff out there to be appreciated that I know I would never bother actually buying or wearing, since it just isn’t “me.”

The other part of this is that I try not to buy too much anymore so I’ll see how it could work in my wardrobe.  I’m not interested in buying some out-there piece that I would have to really tone down with other boring clothes – that just ends up looking like you never thought it through and are settling because you wanted to show off that one item so bad.  Not a good look in my eyes. And I definitely don’t want something that makes me think “well this would be so much better if I just bought item X or Y too.”  I want to take an out-there piece and integrate it with other stuff I have and just do it up, you know?  Make it look like it was always meant to be there. Less but better.

I think a good example of everything I just talked about is that leather Monitaly jacket.  I had always liked the ubiquitous Margiela 5-zip that they do every season in a few leathers/colors but it doesn’t work for me and I have no interest in making it do so.  There’s no denying it’s an iconic piece and a brilliant design though, so when I came across this Monitaly jacket it was like something clicked, and they got me.  It’s just this complete bastardization of the 5-zip, totally making fun of it with some overly Americana vibes in brown calf leather, with some big leather tassles on the zips, and wool knit cuffs.  That’s what I’m all about, just having fun with my style.  I had never bothered to buy a leather jacket before because I had never found The One, but this was it. It was perfect.  And I’m thinking to myself “Ok, wear this with some FBT’s and I’ll have tassles all over the place, cause why not, right?”

More looks after the jump

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