Junya Watanabe, designer

This dress expresses Japanese designer Junya Watanabe’s keen interest in sculpting new creations that are replete with historical references. Described by one
fashion reviewer as “a vision of 18th-century milkmaids who had parachuted into a field of flowers,” this dress recalls polonaise gowns, a poufed style popular in 1770s
and 1780s Europe. The Polonaise style adapted into fashion the working woman’s habit of tucking the hem of her dress into her underskirt to keep it clean. The
white polyester printed with blue roses references European copies of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain as well as motifs seen in mass-produced European textiles in the mid-1800s.