What ended up as a happy meditation on pattern and proportion at Issey Miyake (one fellow showgoer said afterward that he had an out-of-body experience during it) started out a little bit dressed-down health sanatorium. This clinical vibe came courtesy of designer Yusuke Takahashi’s opening triptych of a white shirt over a tee, a white shirt jacket, and a collarless white henley. Shortly afterward, Takahashi’s vibe loosened up.
Beautifully rendered batiks were featured on matching blousons and shirts and one yellow-on-black full look of jacket and shorts. A collarless green jacket had a rich, deep appearance achieved by a process so complicated it took five lines of the press notes to explain yet left me none the wiser. The tie-dyes and ikat woven tracksuit blousons and pants were all yes, please. There was a nylon-looking pant (Look 8, I reckon, and 24) that had a beautiful, beautiful cut when seen laterally. A close-to-the-close section of pieces framed by competing backgammon isosceles triangles of burnt orange and black was gently beguiling. This was another solid Miyake collection that looked to combine traditional Japanese decorative techniques and innovative in-house technology to create ease-imbued garments convincingly of this moment.
