Issey Miyake
Toyko, Japan
“One piece of cloth” is the underlying guiding principle of the legacy of Issey Miyake. The brand’s unwavering approach to creation is the freedom to have ideas, unconstrained by any preexisting rules or framework and to be able to make them realities through a tenacious process of research and experimentation. Continually blurring the lines between art and fashion, Issey Miyake’s clothing is equally at home in museum collections as well as personal wardrobes.
Issey Miyake’s first collection was launched in New York in 1971 and shown in Paris Fashion Week in 1973. With his work, Issey Miyake broke the boundaries between East and West and pursued “the body, the fabric covering it and a comfortable relationship between the two” as a fundamental concept, both shocking and resonating with people the world over. Issey Miyake has grown to include a vast number of creative personnel and innovative new techniques, but its core design style – creating clothes from original materials starting with the research of a single thread and a single piece of cloth – transcends generations.
Issey Miyake stands for creating clothing that addresses the demands of the times by combining traditional techniques from Japan and elsewhere with cutting-edge technologies. His work is collaborative, constantly pushing both the tradition and the evolution of design and his spirit lies in his ability to explore a single theme for many years, using evolving materials and processes. His clothing speaks to the hearts of its wearers and invokes feelings of joy and happiness.
In 2019, Satoshi Kondo took the helm as the Head Designer of Issey Miyake womenswear. His first playful collection for the brand debuted to much acclaim at the September 2019 Paris Fashion Week. Satoshi Kondo graduated from Ueda Yasuko Fashion College in 2007 with Fashion Creator Masters. Satoshi has been working for twelve years at the Issey Miyake design studio, including several years most recently as the Lead Designer for the Pleats Please label. His predecessor, Yoshiyuki Miyamae, will stay on to focus on a new, as yet unannounced project. Yoshiyuki leaves a legacy of continued technical innovation synonymous with the Miyake brand, including the 3D Steam Stretch, a cutting edge technology that allows the fabric to withstand prolonged wear and washing.
Issey Miyake Pleats Please
Tokyo, Japan
“One piece of cloth” is the underlying guiding principle of the legacy of Issey Miyake. The brand’s unwavering approach to creation is the freedom to have ideas, unconstrained by any preexisting rules or framework and to be able to make them realities through a tenacious process of research and experimentation. Continually blurring the lines between art and fashion, Issey Miyake’s clothing is equally at home in museum collections as well as personal wardrobes.
Issey Miyake’s first collection was launched in New York in 1971 and shown in Paris Fashion Week in 1973. With his work, Issey Miyake broke the boundaries between East and West and pursued “the body, the fabric covering it and a comfortable relationship between the two” as a fundamental concept, both shocking and resonating with people the world over. Issey Miyake has grown to include a vast number of creative personnel and innovative new techniques, but its core design style – creating clothes from original materials starting with the research of a single thread and a single piece of cloth – transcends generations.
Issey Miyake introduced unique pleating technology into the line in 1988, experimenting and refining the pleating process until the pleats line became a brand of its own, Pleats Please Issey Miyake, in 1994. Traditional pleated clothing is made by first pleating fabric, then cutting and sewing the individual garments. Issey Miyake reversed this process, developing the technology to pleat the garment after it is cut and sewn. Made from single pieces of fabric, the garments are initially assembled three times larger than the finished product. The piece is then sandwiched between two layers of washi paper and hand fed into a heat press. The garment emerges with permanent pleats, enabling both texture and form to be created simultaneously.
Pleats Please is a brand of elegant yet versatile, comfortable and beautiful clothing that embraces permanent pleats. These clothes combine functionality – light and wrinkle-proof, they don’t require dry-cleaning – with a versatility that makes them suitable for all settings in your daily life. This brand reflects Issey Miyake’s fundamental concept that “design is not for philosophy, but for life,” and continues to evolve today.