“Dancing Texture”, drawing inspiration from the ceramic works of Shoji Kamoda. The designer trio explored movement through texture, balancing light, shadow, and form in motion.
“Punk is not dead.” Well, neither is Issey Miyake. Since the death of the brand’s founder in 2022, and the artistic creation now attributed to Satoshi Kondo, the fashion shows have received much less coverage by the various fashion media. Yet, they are often unique and brilliant.
This week’s Spring/Summer 2026 show is no exception. It even seems, somehow, even better than usual. Taking place at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, Satoshi Kondo successfully used the building’s metal elements and the installations planned for the show to stage a performance, with dancers blending into the metal, or the pattern surrounding them, and vibrating to the rhythm of the music. This almost mystical setting became the setting for a series of more or less discreet tributes to Japanese culture and Issey Miyake’s work, all in the patterns and palettes of the set, and with innovative proposals. The famous pleated fabric is found in several looks, such as a denim ensemble, and the traditional Japanese kimono becomes a loose, airy suit or a men’s dress (one of the few that doesn’t look out of place on a masculine look.
Tabi, traditional Japanese shoes made popular by Martin Margiela, are reincarnated here with sandals separating the models’ toes. The colors are vibrant, the textures daring, such as a shiny leather trench coat or a dress in silver fabric. At the end of the show, the dancers picked up the pace, finally leaving their positions to blend into the show’s looks. Their entire outfit was actually included in the collection.
In conclusion, this is a flood of ideas and homage linked to the brand’s archives and country of origin. Softer looks, such as this denim ensemble, ensure commercial success.
An Unguided Guide to Making Unexpected Forms
Fit your head, arms and legs, and body into a piece of knit or a pair of pants, assume a position, and hold that position—as if you were a sculpture. Created with the original concept by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, a series of performative works titled One Minute Sculptures set in motion the presentation of the Autumn Winter 2025/26 collection at Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.
The artist invites the viewer to follow certain instructions to hold a specific and often awkward position for a short amount of time, to become part of the sculpture for a brief moment—blurring the boundary between the observer and the observed. What has inspired the collection [N]either [N]or is the artist’s underlying concept of treating an ordinary thing in an extraordinary way to challenge the viewer’s preconception. On this occasion, ISSEY MIYAKE designer Satoshi Kondo met with Erwin Wurm to further explore the many in-between’s and the ambiguity that exists in them. The following is an excerpt of their conversation.
