For three seasons in a row now, Issey Miyake has decided not to bring his company’s mainline menswear to Paris, but to showcase his Homme Plissé offshoot instead. Yet Mr. Miyake, who remains in Japan rather than travel to Europe for the shows, has not yet committed to this in the long-term. This is a bit of a shame, because the shows are diverting and full of technically adept and attractive clothing. On the other hand, the menswear when it was here was pretty good too. The either/or nature of the equation seems unfortunate.
Anyway, today’s show was billed as a jam session, and the notes observed: “an outfit is an improvisation.” Daniel Ezralow directed a multi-part series of musical modeling cameos that sometimes tried a little too hard, and in all lasted a little too long, but was fundamentally a benevolent experience if you could suppress all thought of the demands of the day around it.
The first set of models came out in colorful, pleated pieces and shook our hands; nice to meet you too. The second set of four brass players wore brush-stroked pleated pieces and simultaneously danced and played Gershwin. I loved the origami structures of the third group’s taped parkas. Then bass players in pieces that were more meh, but totally fine, before a strong, oversized hula-hoop section (this was as close to the viral runway moment that this show seemed to be casting after got) and some nice trenches, concluding with a slightly naff pleated-tuxedo moment. If this was your only appointment of the day, okay. But in its overall context, this essentially warm-hearted and mostly finely attired show would have benefited from a much tighter arrangement.
