Lava, water, land. Issey Miyake creative director Yoshiyuki Miyamae likes to draw on nature for inspiration; this season, he elected to focus on its primordial elements. That emphasis was fitting for a collection that went back to basics in another way, too: With this outing, the Issey Miyake brand launched a new strategy toward pre-collections, shifting toward durable wardrobe staples and building-block items in relatively simple shapes, the better to save up drama for the runway.
This wasn’t a particularly newsworthy collection, in other words, but what it lacked in punch it made up for in detail. In particular, Miyamae made a variety of nice, subtle choices in how he and his team executed the signature Miyake pleating techniques, introducing hints of off-ness that drew these high tech clothes closer to the season’s nature theme. A flowing steam stretch pleat, for instance, was made extra watery by the fact that the digital stripe print on the fabric didn’t precisely align with the pleat, while the papery looks in a landscape print had been pleated once, vertically, by the usual process, and then a second time, horizontally, by hand. There was a pleasing sense of irregularity.
The unfussy silhouettes, meanwhile, served as a cordial invitation to potential new Miyake fans who might be intimidated by the brand’s more avant-garde looks. That was especially true of the collection’s tidy polyester jersey knits and its blanketlike cashmere outerwear, but the principle extended to accessible pieces in a graphic radial pleat, done in a lightweight, dressy poly, and pleated pants, skirts, and dresses with a sarong-style attachment that could be styled according to the wearer’s preference. All in all, this season’s Miyake pieces made for a nice starter kit for newbies, or, for longtime fans, a range of items easy to mix and match with looks from collections past.
