Rough edges and bouncing pleats were the order of the day at Issey Miyake.

Smiles all round

It’s actually quite shocking to see a whole cast of models smiling. Although this is something the Issey Miyake girl often does on the catwalk, it remains such a refreshing act to see models actually look happy in this context, especially at the end of a month of frowns and pouts. Set to the live soundtrack of earthy synths and voluminous percussion – provided by Ei Wada of the Open Reel Ensemble, and Masatsugu Hattori respectively – everything seemed in balance. Focusing on natural and new techniques the ‘Botanical Delights’ show yesterday extended feelings of ease and relaxation, in both atmosphere and look.

Baked Goods

The house’s design team, lead by Yoshiyuki Miyamae, turned their heads toward the combination of the natural and the mechanical. Their 3D Steam Stretch continues to evolve, while the new ‘Baked Stretch’ sees glue first printed onto the garment, before baking it in a literal oven. What comes of this is a pleat molded into the fabric – giving scope for more form fitting garments, as opposed to sewing in structure around the pleats of the fabric, the structure is now baked in. This gave way to amazingly structural horizontal ‘wave’ pleats which were based in blacks and printed with contrasting pastels or brights, following the lines of the piece. The resulting movement was joyful – the ‘bounce’ pleat perhaps…

Frayed Ends

Other notable moments came in the form of something slightly ‘rougher’ – an almost hessian like weave which spat out fraying at its edges. Formed into dresses and large collared tie-jackets, colours ranged from scorching Summer brights, to blacks and blues. Usually known for their focus on the synthetic, the house tuned its frequency to something more natural for SS16 – all in the name exploring just how far that famous pleat can go.

Words: Tom Rasmussen