Japan's top designer Issey Miyake: Futuristic panache

Japan's top designer Issey Miyake: Futuristic panache

Text by Parvathi Nayar Narayan and photos by Arief Suhardiman

JAKARTA (JP): Finally! That's the comment one might expect from a fashion lover after learning of the recent opening of an Issey Miyake boutique at Plaza Senayan, Jakarta.

The boutique features his main lines of womenswear and menswear, as well as his secondary collection, Pleats Please. The latter basically consists of simple yet elegant coordinates made of finely pleated synthetics, which supplement the main label and have been one of Miyake's great successes.

In conjunction with the opening, a presentation of some of Miyake's creations from his latest collection was held at the Shangri-La ballroom last Friday.

Top Japanese designer Issey Miyake says that his 1996 spring collection arose from a paradox that he terms "Issey contradicting Miyake". He says he is designing for the future, experimenting with earlier designs that he had not developed but has now reinterpreted using unusual colors, fabrics, and shapes.

Miyake is known for his bold, innovative use of fabrics. However, it would be simplistic and inaccurate to dismiss his intriguing garments as mere high technology gimmickry; there is an important dimension of artistry, craft and design genius that Miyake brings to them.

It is high tech materials like industrial fabrics made beautiful by the sure touch of the master designer, the trademark of Miyake's creations. Still, with the best, most imaginative will in the world, it is hard to imagine them off the catwalk and on the streets. At least in the immediate future.

The selection on show included an interesting range of menswear. On the one hand there were shirts and trousers cut in flowing lines that seemed to embody comfort. There were trousers in neutrals, indigo and black and white fabrics, as well as in bold, cheerful floral prints. Fringes were in evidence, on casual checked shirts and crochet-inspired shirts and waistcoats.

On the other hand there were synthetic ensembles, futuristic looking, seemingly designed for avant-garde appeal. There were suits in metallic sheens and monofilament film, the trousers sporting zip-open knee pads. Especially striking was a jumpsuit made of a black matte metallic material.

The style of the clear monofilament trousers was carried over as skirts for women. These were double layered and piped with clear tubing to give a hoop effect. Transparent skirts in bold stripes of alternate colors were worn with matching shorts underneath.

The floral prints, so full of joie de vivre, were also carried over into the womenswear; a brilliant canary yellow dress patterned in vivid floral motifs, for example, slit to reveal a dazzling pink on the reverse side of the fabric.

There was the zany and impractical. Outfits in shiny materials with a self-pattern of dots, in cadmium and cerulean with inflatable swimming-tube type additions. The odd funky hat in outrageous sizes and silhouettes provided an extra note of fun.

There were takeoffs on formal wear, matte metallic tail coats in fabrics with an almost pearl-like sheen, slit to reveal zippered dresses in matching fabrics, or pleated black dresses with a thread of glitter running through the fabric, sporting the new hoop effects.

There were outfits that Miyake calls holography, where, essentially, he gives reflective finishes to materials, creating an iridescent glitter. This holography look included transparent mesh knits and monofilament taffeta jackets, even holography sneakers with clear soles.

Futuristic, outrageous, attention-grabbing, yes ... but wearable?

Nicole Fischelis, vice president of fashion direction for Saks Fifth Avenue, had this to say about the collection when it was first shown in Paris, "No, you don't see it on the street but it is one of our bestselling lines. It is saleable, collectible and unique."

Miyake believes that easy maintenance is an important quality for contemporary clothing. He is not afraid to be different in almost all aspects of his shows. To celebrate 25 years in the fashion industry, he held an extravagant fall show in Paris last year using models in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s. Indicating perhaps that true beauty and real genius is indeed ageless and timeless.

An interesting bit of trivia is that Miyake was one of the designers invited to "dress" the dolls of master dollmaker Robert Tonner at a recent charity auction to raise money for AIDS research. Miyake liked them so much that he bought an extra 100 dolls, which model the Pleats Please line across stores in Japan. They've proven to be real crowd pullers, with people wanting to buy the clothes and the dolls alike.

Miyake, along with Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, has dominated the fashion scene in Japan and made a significant impact on Western fashion and style for the past 15 years. Miyake works generously to promote new talent, and his proteges include Akira Onozuka and Kosuke Tsumura. However, there can be no doubt that the triumvirate -- Miyake, Kawakubo and Yamamoto -- are not just far ahead of the pack, but have also carved a unique niche for themselves.

Miyake is regarded as the philosopher, the intellectual extrapolator of fabric, constantly innovating to produce astonishing textures and effects. What Star Trek did for human adventure and the conquest of space, Miyake does for fashion with his indecipherable but striking fabrics: to boldly go where no- one has gone before.