"Making clothes is all about how to relate flat fabric to a three-dimensional figure in the form of the human body. European-style couture involves giving three-dimensional form to fabric by using curved lines and darts to fit it to the body… The kimono, in contrast to the construction of Western clothing, is an assemblage of rectangular pieces of fabric… Examples of this approach... include simply draping a piece of flat fabric over the body, as in Issey Miyake's 'A Piece of Cloth' concept in 1976." So Akiko Fukai argues in Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion. Since the publication of Anne Hollander's Seeing Through Clothes, the assertion that kimono resembles a flat canvas when compared to the sculptural Western apparel, has been rather prevalent. As a result, the works of modern-day Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake are too likened to a flat canvas, characterized by what seems to be the "lack of intervention with fabrics."

Kimono, with its geometric outline and standard size, can easily be perceived as a flat garment. However, as Aarti Kawlra brilliantly showcases in her essay, "The Kimono Body," kimono is constructed flatness. That says, the making of a kimono pivots around the premeditation over textiles, rather than the tailoring tradition. In making a kimono, it is textile artist who delineates the various body parts, by weaving, dyeing, painting and printing. As shown in the figure on the left, the design of each body section must be composed of mirror opposites, whose apexes meet at the shoulder mark - the dotted line. If the order is not adhered to, patterns would appear upside down. Even so, weaving or dyeing with the alternating pattern upside down is preferred to cutting and seaming the fabrics.

Kawlra's demonstration is especially significant because, for the study of a kimono, she takes on a material approach, despite or precisely because of the dominance of semiotic readings within academia. Indeed, it is important to recognize textiles and clothes as social and psychological phenomena. But it is just as important to understand the material in its own right. An examination of the kimono's construction not only reveals information previously neglected in the study of the garment as a cultural product, but also points to other non-tailored garments such as sari, sarong, and shawl. As Susanne Küchler rightly concludes: "We have not yet even begun to realize the full implication of the dawning of a material approach to thinking and knowing, yet we sense that it will certainly revolutionize the way we have regarded what appeared as merely decorative and ornamental." It is my intention, then, to combine both the material and the cultural approaches upon the study of Issey Miyake's design.

As a fashion designer, Issey Miyake has heavily invested in textile experiments. He established his design studio in 1970 as a laboratory for research on fabric technology and design techniques. While his works are remarkable for their aesthetics, his abiding interest in textile manipulation and metamorphosis proves to be the key to his success. Like a kimono maker, Miyake designs clothes by making the fabric.

A-POC

Amongst his most acclaimed projects is A-POC, initiated in 1997, led by Issey Miyake and engineering designer Dai Fujiwara. Its name is an acronym for “A Piece of Cloth” and refers to the idea of “epoch.” A-POC entails a manufacturing method that uses computer technology to create clothing from a single piece of thread in a single process. The method provides a solution to an array of challenges, including those of production, wearability and portability. In the very first incarnation of A-POC, tubes of double-knit fabric, with yarns linked in a fine mesh of chain stitches, were produced on a reformed Raschel knitting machine, made without seams, finished on a roll. The garments stitched within the tube are to be cut free by the wearer. Once the garments are cut free, the bottom layer of mesh will shrink, keeping the fabric from unravelling. By formulating the fabrics, Miyake designs clothing without seaming and tailoring.

The first results of the project, including "A-POC King & Queen, A-POC Le Feu," were presented in the Spring/Summer 1999 ISSEY MIYAKE Paris Collection. Following that, PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE and other collections began to develop items based upon the A-POC method starting in 2003. After 2007, the collection introduced design solutions under the subtext of "A-POC INSIDE" and has continued to refine its vision for making garments.

PLEATS PLEASE 

PLEATS PLEASE was introduced into ISSEY MIYAKE in 1989, when the designer presented a series of functional garments made from pleated polyester, refined and released to commercial production as the "Pleats Please" line in 1993. Miyake’s interest in new textiles, such as polyester, is related to his environment. Japan has over the centuries developed a sophisticated textile industry and, since World War II, has focused on the regeneration of its manufacture industry. Although Miyake relied on his extensive studies of the traditional Japanese sartorial techniques to create clothes with contemporary appearances, he also worked with Japanese synthetic-fibre manufacturers. In the second half of the 1980s, these new synthetic' fabrics made from polyester were attracting worldwide attention.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Miyake developed and refined his revolutionary pleating technique, in which polyester is cut into the shape of a garment and then heat-pressed to create permanent pleats. The PLEATS PLEASE line, decorated with bright colors and abstract geometric patterns, is not only light in weight but also machine-washable. Fantastically rational, internationally viable, this is a line positioned to embody one of the most fundamental concepts of Issey Miyake - the true value of design lies in its integration into the everyday life. Miyake himself explains: "My first dream, and why I first decided to open my studio, was that I thought: 'If I could one day make clothes like T-shirts and jeans, I would be very excited.' But I was always doing such heavy things far away from the people. And then I was thinking, you know, 'Are you stupid? Don't you remember why you started designing in the first place?' And then I thought, 'Okay, Pleats Please.' So I started to think how to make it, how to wash it how to coordinate it, even how to pack it. And I worked on how to keep the price down.” Miyake does not deem couture or theatrical extravaganza as the culmination of fashion design. Rather, he designs in response to the everyday problems and needs in people’s lives, almost treating fashion design as industrial design.

HOMME PLISSÉ

HOMME PLISSÉ is another clothing concept made possible by the continuing development of Miyake's original pleating technology. The line has not only chosen the wrinkle-resistant and quick-drying fabrics, but also uses uniform pleats in order to prevent the garments from clinging to the skin. In addition to the PLEATS PLEASE pleating process, whereby the pleating takes place after the cutting and sewing, some products are sewn after the fabric is pleated. 

132 5. 

132 5. developed by Issey Miyake and his Reality Lab. team, is another reincarnation of A-POC. The process by which the clothing is made, originally inspired by origami, is groundbreaking. First, a variety of three-dimensional shapes are conceived in collaboration with a computer scientist; then, these shapes are folded into two dimensional forms with pre-set cutting lines that determine their finished shape; and finally, they are heat-pressed, to yield folded shirts, skirts, dresses etc. Again, the fabrics are not undifferentiated yardages. The clothes are precisely embedded within the fabrics. Aside from that, these garments are made with recycled fibers. 

IN-EI

As a continuation of 132 5., IN-EI is a collection of lights created by Issey Miyake + Reality Lab., manufactured by Artemide. For the lampshades, the non-woven fabric made from recycled PET bottles is used, with special surface treatment. The lights require no internal frame to support themselves, and can be folded flat when not in use, just as the garments from 132 5.. For Miyake, the logic of fashion design resonates with that of the industrial design.