It was in the north of the capital, at the Paris Event Center of the Parc de la Villette, that the public was invited to the Spring/Summer 2023 fashion show of the Japanese house Issey Miyake. The brand’s current designer, Satoshi Kondo, and his team of creators paid a moving tribute to the founder of the house, who died on August 5 at the age of 84.
Before the show began, the audience discovered on several giant screens the projection of a black and white portrait of the designer, accompanied by this sentence written in his hand: “I believe there is Hope in Design. Design evokes Surprise and Joy in People”.
The collection, entitled “A Form That Breathes“, was all about movement. Indeed, movement is an apparent thread throughout the Issey Miyake universe, a world of clothing that’s continually shape-shifting and playing with life around it, its forms often springing into action when being worn.
To music played by pianist Koki Nakano, models walked through the darkened room decorated with two tall amorphic nonwoven fabric sculptures in white in looks presented with multiple types of pleats, lengthwise in width, puffy, flat, pointed or rounded. All in solid hues, like yellow, fuchsia and mint green, or multi-colored geometric prints. The collection concluded with two dresses, one black with a white print and the other white with a black print, like light and dark.
©Issey Miyake