Mood board: Issey Miyake’s design legacy is one of innovation and elegance. His pioneering experiments with pleated textiles in the early 1980s have created a globally recognisable and widely copied silhouette across both men’s and women’s wardrobes. Miyake first showed the men’s collection at Paris Fashion Week in 1985 and the clothes have been a staple for the intelligentsia ever since. In its current iteration – designed by Yusuke Takahashi – the mood at Miyake has accelerated into a modern, dynamic sensibility with functionality and comfort at the fore.
Best in show: Standout were the lightweight nylon taffeta coats, taken from an archive pattern first designed for A/W 1983. Water and crease-resistant, they were worn buttoned at the neck, ready for a walk across a terrace or rocky terrain. Elsewhere, cropped puffer jackets sported wide shoulders. Zips twisted around the leg on technical trousers.
Finishing touches: The A/W 2017 collection looked towards the great outdoors in what the show notes labelled a ‘call to the wind’. Textured patterns in pop colours were developed from white birch forests and created by artisans using ten types of printing plates. Here the pieces combined the recognisable grace of urban clothing alongside more technical details taken from trekking garments and patterns inspired by the rhythm of nature. Miyake’s default silhouette – wide-cut trousers and collarless blousons – was offered in pleated, crushed fabrics. The clothes suggest both ease in their roominess and drama in their volume.
