For decades now, the staging of an Issey Miyake show has elicited an emotional response based on the thing that is happening while the clothes are presented. That thing has ranged from the grandeur of orchestras and ballet companies to the humble pleasure of…balloons? Yes, it was helium-filled balloons that danced throughout today's show, cued by the manipulation of musician Ei Wada, who was phantoming on an organ the whole time that balloons rose and fell behind him. If the method of his manipulation was scarcely comprehensible, it made a perfect fit with the nature of the clothes themselves. New concept: 3-D steam stretch. Creases programmed into fabric were brought to life by the application of steam. Super-textured, but not knitted, not pleated, and as light as air. There was a color palette to match: pale yellows, lilac, turquoise, biscuit. Suggestions, not statements.
Designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae has a real knack for taking fabric-tech breakthroughs and turning them into fresh, springy outfits like the ones we saw here. But he also made stoles that he wrapped around more conventional pieces, to give them another dimension. Paired with big, almost Edwardian hats, they were a quirky reminder of the way European dress insinuated itself into Japan from the late 19th century onward. Incongruous, perhaps, but also a measure of the depth of thought that shapes this collection.
