Geometric shapes informed Homme Plissé Issey Miyake’s garments for fall.
“This collection looks at triangles and other basic geometric elements and uses them to develop complex forms, where we then translate and adapt them for garment design,” the brand’s design team said.
“We find this approach in synergy with the design and making of Homme Plissé, as it is how we build something that is elaborate out of simple shapes,” it continued. “We see it as a new way of introducing folds — structures — to the technique and making of pleating.”
The brand known for pleats called this collection “Upon a Simplex,” with the subhead: “An investigation of basic geometry, developing into elaborate curved planes, in forms of their very structure.”
For Homme Plissé this season, function follows form.
This graceful collection full of signature pleats comes with luscious, popping colors, such as banana yellow, raspberry, azure and lime, as well as more muted tones, like browns, black and olive. Often, these were paired or layered together.
Most of the looks had a solid color, but a series including a coat, vest and trousers had a skewed pleated grid in black-and-white or two shades of green.
Alongside triangles, other simple geometric shapes were integrated into the garment constructions, making for forms that gave elegant, streamlined effects.
The “Three by Six” pieces were made from six triangles in a hexagonal form, creating a draped, asymmetric silhouette for a jacket or skirt. The “Edge Coat,” with a tuck running across the back, was inspired by a triangle composition, too.
The “Unfold” garments, including a chocolate brown zip-up sleeveless top and matching trousers, features rectangular flaps that can be snapped open or closed.
“While for every collection we present garments of original forms, the design and making of this collection in particular has an emphasis on the construction and how that can be faithfully adapted for design with is manifested in [one], the distinctive straight lines and folds, as well as [two], the introduction of triangles,” the design team continued.
The Homme Plissé show took place at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo museum, where the catwalk display was punctuated by a performance, which has become integral to the brand’s displays over the past few years. This time, people danced over and under dots of light, which moved and morphed into lines and other shapes that wafted about — just like the clothes in motion.
