Issey Miyake 1975

In a very grainy You Tube video, you can see Diana Vreeland's well lacquered coiffed head air kissing Issey Miyake after his triumphant debut in New York.  Miyake was exploring the idea of working with "one piece of cloth".  He showed a jumpsuit...

which was sculptural...

and explored the idea of fashion that was neither "East" or "West".

Miyake worked with the idea of the body, movement and cloth...

I was thrilled to find this important and early piece from Issey Miyake and I really think it perfectly  exemplifies what the Met Museum said of the triumvirate group of Japanese designers: Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, " a strive toward  theatricality, visual splendor and organic movement."

Issey Miyake "The Dream"

Issey Miyake was inspired by Henri Rousseau's The Dream:

to create "Rhythm Pleats".  

In 1988 there was an exhibition, ISSEY MIYAKE A-UN, at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris which focused on Miyake's pursuit of cutting edge technology and traditional Japanese techniques in cloth and clothing.

After this exhibition Miyake experimented with pleating fabric by sandwiching it between two layers of washi paper and heating it.  He continued experimenting and improving the pleats.  He developed a technique called 'the twist'.  Two or three people held the ends of the fabric, it was pulled tight and then twisted and then tied with a string and then heated.   In 1993 the line PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE debuted.  PLEATS PLEASE was a dream of Miyake to create an industrial product for everyday clothing. 

What I think is really fascinating is how much creativity and handcraft went into the creation of an 'industrial product'.

I believe that this really fabulous Issey Miyake pleated coat dates from between 1989 and before the debut of Pleats Please in 1993.  It fits like a cardigan with a softly draped shawl collar 

but then on the back of this industrially made jacket is the work of a "couturier" (I know it is a title Miyake rebelled against in the 1960s after assisting at Guy Laroche and Givenchy) but it is the detail of slicing open the back and stitching it by hand leaving open space that makes it very couture - not to mention, A Dream.

East Meets West: Issey Miyake

Thought you might enjoy seeing this extremely rare and very early Issey Miyake 'East Meets West' collection handkerchief hem dress from 1970 that we had, oh, for about a second.  

"I Don't Make Gorgeous Clothes" - Issey Miyake

The Japanese designer, Issey Miyake, introduced Ultra Suede to Halston.  Say what?!  Issey Miyake once worked as design assistant to Geoffrey Beene.  Say what?!  Who knew?!  Obviously have some research to do here...

Mr. Miyake, who was interviewed by the New York Times in 1982, said that he does "not make gorgeous clothes".  He wanted to make clothes "that float around the body.  There should be space between the body and the fabric.  The design interest should come only from the color and the fabric.  This is not the time for fashion as we know it".  

Whenever a piece of Issey Miyake comes into RARE vintage, for one thing it sells very quickly as this piece did, and it is also never like anything I have seen before.  The material, the colors, the design are a new way of seeing what we have seen before.

Here is an exceptional, almost theatrical, pleated coat by Issey Miyake which sold in an instant.

Early 1990s Issey Miyake Coat