Rei Kawakubo
Watanabe often uses the word "monozukuri" to describe his work. Like his mentor Rei Kawakubo, Watanabe is renowned for designing innovative and distinctive clothing. He is particularly interested in synthetic and technologically advanced textiles and fabrics as found in his spring/summer 2001 line but also uses more traditional materials such as cotton in his spring/summer 2003 collection. He has also cited Pierre Cardin and Issey Miyake as influences.