Paris Fashion Week: Homme Plisse Issey Miyake Autum/Winter 2023/24

Brilliant colours at the Issey Miyake AW23 show in Paris against a backdrop of glimmering lights.Main photograph by Elli Ioannou for DAM

An enchanting installation and performance created a mysterious and engaging start to Issey Miyake's Homme Plisse Autumn/Winter 2023/24 show for the new menswear collection. The luminescence was a dramatic counterpoint to the vivid colour blocking and austere lines of the Japanese maison's designs, writes Antonio Visconti. Photography by Elli Ioannou

The glimmering and immersive installation

at the Issey Miyake show in Paris

IN PARIS, the Issey Miyake show opened with a lyrical light show created by French visual and performing arts directors Claire Bardainne and Adrian Mondot. The immersive video installations transformed the runway at the Palais de Tokyo museum, so that the space seemed sparkling and infinite. The gleaming, flowing lights were striated like a luminescent night sky and the chanting music and sound design added to the sense of mystery and otherworldliness.

Amid the spectacular performance, the new designs emerged in all of their spare fluidity: the simplicity given a jolt with a vibrant color palette. Jackets had an expansive, rounded silhouette while the pleats extended from the neck to the shoulders like raglan sleeves. A coat designed with a radius of pleats was made with high-density polyester to give it a three-dimensional quality.

As a counterpoint to the poetry of the installation, the collection, called Upon a Simplex is a study of triangles and other simple geometric shapes. Volume was incorporated into the garments with the clever Issey Miyake pleats, folded into the construction of the fabric. The collection, even with some more elaborate forms, still reflected the theme of exploring basic geometry.

The graphic patterns were based on the work of American architect and philosopher Buckminster Fuller and his way of transforming and subdividing a sphere into triangles. In the designs, the print has triangles that appear to gradually increase in size, adding another layer of three-dimensionality.

The show opened with a lyrical, immersive video installation that transformed the runway into a luminescent night sky 

The deceptively simple designs

were a counterpoint to the 

otherworldly installation.

A series of coats crafted from short-fibre recycled nylon, gave the fabric a soft, cotton-like texture. Adjustable drawstrings inserted into the seams transformed the garment: the strap inside can be pulled out so the coat can be worn over the shoulder.

Another design features rectangular overlays that can be opened or closed to play with the look and shape of the jacket. By undoing the buttons, the overlapping pieces open into triangular shapes. 

A pleated grid print in contrasting colours comes as coat, waistcoat and trousers while diagonal creases and oblique lines create an optical illusion that gives movement to the graphics. 

This was a collection that was a clever combination of contrasts: sporty yet sober; colourful but understated and voluminous yet with fluid, sleek lines. While the master Issey Miyake is no longer at the helm, his ethos of practical, poetic magic imbues the entire collection. 

Highlights from the Issey Miyake AW23/24 show in Paris