Paris Fashion Week: Issey Miyake's Walk in the Park

Dancers and Zalindé, an all-female Afro-Brazilian percussion troupe, performing at the Issey Miyake show in Paris. Main photograph and cover picture by Elli Ioannou for DAM

 

Issey Miyake's new Spring/Summer 2020 Homme Plissé show opened in Paris with a jubilant band of dancers, gymnasts and musicians and ended in a party with the guests joining in at the historic Place des Vosges, Jeanne-Marie Cilento writes. Additional reporting and photographs by Elli Ioannou

Guests arrive before the Issey Miyake show,
 seated around a statue of Louis XIII
in the Place des Vosges

ON a cool, grey summers day in Paris, under the leafy Linden trees of a beautiful 17th century square, dancers swooped and leaped wearing the pleated, flowing creations of Japanese fashion house, Issey Miyake.

Choreographed by American director and dancer Daniel Ezralow, the show was called 'A Walk in the Park' and was held in the Place des Vosges.

Opened in 1612, it is the oldest planned square in Paris, situated in the fashionable Marais, and was once home to luminaries from Victor Hugo and Theophile Gaultier to Cardinal Richelieu and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans. Cardinal Richelieu had an equestrian bronze statue of Louis XIII erected in the centre of the gardens in 1619. Issey Miyake had always wanted to do a fashion show in the Place des Vosges and had been waiting for the official permissions to do it. When those came through, he decided the Homme Plissé collection was the best to be launched amid the trees and gravel paths of the square.

The designer says Homme Plissé Issey Miyake is "made for people of all ages and origins and for any occasion. It sets out to brighten up everyday life as it inspires people to express their originality in a creative way."

 

Choreographer Daniel Ezralow designed the Homme Plissé show to have four acts: first, the sound of birds calling while the dancers walk about meditatively; then the splashing of rain with the models running and carrying umbrellas in different formations; followed by an Irish jig with footballs being kicked around and then the finale enlivened with the arrival of Zalindé, an all-female Afro-Brazilian percussion troupe.

The dancers gathered around a picturesque maypole with colourful ribbons. The lively music and drumming encouraged everyone to dance including the guests who got up from their seats to join in, before Zalindé lead the show back along the street.

Under the leafy Linden trees, dancers swooped and leaped wearing the pleated, flowing creations of Japanese designer Issey Miyake

Dancers wearing flowing kimono-shaped
jackets and carrying umbrellas

 

The designer's themes of music and dance highlighted the collection's bright colours, vivid check patterns and Issey Miayke's signature pleats. Fluid, kimono-shaped, long coats in yellow, blue and red were covered in dynamic, painterly designs and worn over loose-fitting, buttoned shirts and capacious pants.

Ezralow choreographed the show to express the brilliant colour and ease of movement of the Homme Plissé collection.

The director has worked with Issey Miyake on shows and projects for many years, from helping him launch collections in the Eighties to directing women’s presentations in the Nineties.

The show's themes of music and dance highlighted the collection's vivid, painterly colours, check patterns and signature pleats

Models play soccer during
the show

They also worked on the ‘Flying Bodies, Soaring Souls’ show in 2013, which featured the male rhythmic gymnastics team from Aomori University.

In January this year, Ezralow created the 'Playground' presentation at the Centre Pompidou in Paris to present "L'Homme Plissé.

This new collection uses Issey Miyake’s pleating process, one that he began experimenting with in 1988, after having launched his innovative fashion house more than
a decade earlier.

Over the years, Miyake expanded into other avant-garde diffusion lines using various, in-house designers he has nurtured but with all of the designs still overseen by him. The theme of Homme Plissé is a sporty aesthetic built around new iterations of the designer’s pleating technique, using new textiles that are wrinkle-proof and quick-drying and will not stick to the skin.

The athletic aesthetic of  Homme Plissé is enhanced by a colourful palette, voluminous fluidity and Miyake's architectural sense of form

Zalindé lead the way along the street
after the show

The clothes are designed to be light and easy to move in, low-maintenance and great for travelling. The pleats are added after sewing, giving a three-dimensional structure to the designs that mix whimsical form with functionality.

This high tech approach to fabrication results in a unique folding process that allows the textiles to be breathable and very comfortable. The athletic aesthetic of the collection is enhanced by the colourful palette, voluminous fluidity and Issey Miyake's
architectural sense of form
and texture ~ all exhibited beautifully in this exuberant show in a Parisian park.

 

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On a cool, grey summers day in Paris, under the leafy Linden trees of a beautiful 17th century square, dancers swooped and leapt wearing the pleated, flowing creations of Issey Miyake.

Choreographed by American director and dancer Daniel Ezralow, the show was called 'A Walk in the Park' and was held in the Place des Vosges.

Opened in 1612, it is the oldest planned square in Paris, situated in the fashionable Marais, and was once home to luminaries from Victor Hugo to Cardinal Richelieu.

Issey Miyake had always wanted to do a fashion show in the Place des Vosges and had been waiting for the official permissions to do it.

Daniel Ezralow designed the show to have four acts: first, the dancers walking about meditatively; then the splashing of rain with the models running followed by an Irish jig with footballs being kicked around.

The dancers gathered around a picturesque maypole with colourful ribbons.

The collection uses Issey Miyake’s pleating process, one that he began experimenting with in the early 1980s, after having launched his innovative fashion house a decade earlier.

The collection uses Issey Miyake’s pleating process, one that he began experimenting with in the early 1980s, after having launched his innovative fashion house a decade earlier.

The clothes are designed to be light and easy to move in, low-maintenance and great for travelling.



The lively music and drumming encouraged everyone to dance including the guests who got up from their seats to join in, before Zalindé lead the show back along the street.

Issey Miyake's high tech approach to fabrication results in a unique pleating process that allows the textiles to be breathable and very comfortable.

The designer's themes of music and dance highlighted the collection's bright, tie-dyed colours, vivid check patterns and Issey Miayke's signature pleats.

Fluid, kimono-shaped, long coats in yellow, blue and red were covered in dynamic, painterly designs and worn over loose-fitting, buttoned shirts and capacious pants.

The pleats are added after sewing, giving a three-dimensional structure to the designs that mix whimsical form with functionality.

The athletic aesthetic of the collection is enhanced by the colourful palette, voluminous fluidity and Issey Miyake'sarchitectural sense of form and texture.