Dances with Texture
Review of IM Men Spring 2026 Men’s Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Breaking the tension, art made motion, dancing with texture
Showing outdoors can be either the best or worst decision a designer can make. If you’re blessed with good weather then the atmosphere, senses, and memories will all be heightened, but if the weather decides to turn you could experience your audience running for cover and missing the show entirely. Not to mention how precarious a slippery runway can be for the models. In the case of today’s IM Men’s show the former was the case as the open plan nature of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain created such a welcoming breeze (the humidity in Paris continues to intrude on proceedings) that the team has already won over the crowd before a single look was shown.
Runway shows alive with performance art is nothing new for the Issey Miyake stable of brands, and IM Men was to be no different for spring 2026. Inspired by the work of Shoji Kamoda – a contemporary Japanese ceramic artist who pushed the boundaries of ‘traditional forms and decorative expression’ – his striking designs were the only visual adornment needed for today’s set design. As an opener three sets of performance artists camouflaged head-to-toe in prints exactly matching the floor-to-ceiling strips of fabric, printed with replicas of Kamoda’s work, strode out and proceeded to ‘disappear’ into the artwork. The effect was mesmerisingly clever, like a magic-eye poster come to life. Each set then proceeded to rhythmically ‘dance’ to the sounds of a soundtrack featuring Japanese Mokusho woodblock instruments, proceeding to blend in with, then come to life through burst of movement. Physically embodying the title of todays collection, ‘Dancing Texture’, the team were ‘Guided by the philosophy of a piece of cloth’ – as per the origins of the line – and created rich layering via folds, convertible design details (a maxi windbreaker’s hood transforms into an elaborate collar), and ‘pleated’ knits.
The idea of becoming ‘one with the cloth’ seems almost plausible when in the hands if the Issey Miyake brand, and as each look was revealed its connection from head-to-toe via colour or surface texture created a continuous flow, brought full circle through the prints of Kamoda.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
In IM Men’s first season Sen Kawahara, Yuki Itakura, and Nobutaka Kobuyashi presented a collection merging man and machine in a show space featuring robotic arms, for spring 2026 it was the kinetic energy produced through subtle innovations and analogue techniques that brought to life the process of in-depth research the team employs to familiar garments from new perspectives. Manifesting as pratical, wearable products for everyday life.
