| Issey Miyake Spring 2027 was designed by Satoshi Kondo around the Japanese concept of “ma” or the space between things. The design process began with experiments involving a 10-by-10-meter piece of lightweight fabric. The collection featured translucent textiles voluminous outerwear and pleated constructions. Sculptural torso forms were developed with Japanese lingerie company Wacoal using three-dimensional scanning technology. |
For Issey Miyake Spring 2027, Satoshi Kondo approached clothing by looking first at what surrounds the body rather than concentrating only on the garment itself. The collection was titled “Figure of Ma,” referring to the Japanese idea of “ma,” commonly understood as the interval or space between things.
That principle gave the clothes an unusually direct starting point. Before developing individual pieces, Kondo and the Issey Miyake team worked with a lightweight square of fabric measuring 10 by 10 meters. They lifted it, stretched it and observed how it responded to air, gravity and contact with the body. The exercise became a practical study of distance, volume and physical space.
Those experiments were clearest in the collection’s generous silhouettes. Coats and skirts in shades including lavender, pink and khaki stood away from the body rather than following its outline closely. Fine yarns produced lighter garments, while translucent materials allowed the wearer to remain partly visible through several looks.
Color added another dimension without overwhelming the construction. Azure, raspberry, lemon yellow and soft pink appeared alongside darker blue and black. Some materials were transparent and others dense, allowing Kondo to examine the difference between exposing the body and concealing it.
The collection also presented a much firmer interpretation of the relationship between clothing and anatomy. Working with Wacoal, the Japanese intimate-apparel company, the team created molded torso pieces using technology connected to three-dimensional body scanning and techniques originally developed for bra construction. The resulting tops preserved the impression of fabric arranged around a human form even when they were not being worn.
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Elsewhere, familiar Issey Miyake pleating was treated with greater volume. Black and blue pieces curved around different areas of the body, while horizontal pleats altered the way cloth expanded as the wearer walked. Ripstop fabric was used for rounded jackets and skirts whose shapes projected noticeably beyond the figure.
Other details explored layering. Patterned scarves passed through long dresses, and opaque sections were positioned over lighter garments. Shiny silver and blue fabrics were deliberately wrinkled, with smoother rounded areas interrupting their surfaces.
What makes Issey Miyake Spring 2027 notable is the consistency of its inquiry. Kondo did not treat ma as an abstract theme added after the clothes were designed. He used it as a practical method for deciding how fabric should sit around a person. The result connects Miyake’s established interest in textile engineering with a clear study of proportion, space and construction.
