What Has Always Been
Review of Issey Miyake Fall 2024 Fashion Show
By Mark Wittmer
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
THE THEME
Issey Miyake’s Fall 2024 collection – titled What Has Always Been – takes as its core focus the pre-fashion, perhaps even pre-human idea of clothing as a piece of fabric in relationship with the body, and expands from these primordial origins across a broad array of fluid silhouettes and craft innovations. Led by Satoshi Kondo, the IM team explore the organic interplay of body and fabric across spontaneous developments, almost as if echoing the development of garments across human history: draping, twisting, folding, and layering provide the fluid structure of garments rather than more rigid or architectural forms, creating complex and timeless looks that nonetheless arise out of deceptively simple applications of fabric.
Nonetheless, while there may not be much obvious garment manipulation at play, this is Issey Miyake we’re talking about, and there are plenty of innovative techniques that lend the fabrics their beautiful qualities that the garments so well highlight and respond to. Woven sculptural forms are crafted from a blend of washi and stretch fibers; fluidly layered pants draw their motion from a blend of linen and triacetate; discarded yarns from the production process are reclaimed and reworked as garments that attest to their own construction process. And of course, there’s some excellent use of pleats.
THE BUZZWORDS
Organic. Timeless. Layered. Spatial.
THE SHOWSTOPPER
Look #41
Swoon! Impeccable, enveloping proportions realized through layering that sensitively draws out the qualities of the knit and how it falls across the body, while the sophisticated monochrome ecru lets the volume and soft structure speak in all its glory.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
A piece of clothing created in this manner transcends the notion of a garment. The final form of this creation is fluid and flexible, favoring the wearer. A collection of clothing like this is not
– Issey Miyake Team
defined by certain eras or contexts, but is developed from this act that is primitive and universal, and
always evokes a sense of originality.
THE WRAP UP
Covering an impressive range of ideas with impressive cohesion while remaining true to its central concept and the far-seeing vision of its namesake, Issey Miyake continues to be a singular fashion force that is at once universal and wholly original.
