Issey Miyake (Japanese, 1938-2022) is memorialized for groundbreaking technological innovations in contemporary fashion, rooted in traditional craft, and creating a wearable avant-garde in pursuit of the modern. Miyake gained experience in the American ready-to-wear industry in the 1960s, but returned to Japan where he embraced and created the rising momentum of Japanese fashion globally. He began showing in Paris in 1973, among the earliest of the Japanese avant-gardists to break into the European fashion establishment. By the 1980s, Miyake’s name became synonymous with innovation and freedom, establishing proprietary fabrications and construction techniques, including heat-set micro pleats and garments created from A Piece of Cloth (APOC). The designer created an ethos over six decades, which situated fashion within an integrated schema of design, “a wearable operating system, built to sit between the body and the wider world.” 

This auction includes early pieces that embody Issey Miyake's philosophy: androgyny in the form of wide-fitting jumpsuits, technological innovation in multidirectional micro pleats, and the primordial simplicity of clothing made from a single piece of cloth. Delicate but never fussy, constructed but not constricting, these early garments establish a precedent for an expanded vocabulary of fashion in Miyake’s own visual language.

This lot includes one dress and one jacket.

THE FIRST
Dark brown long polyester pleated dress with long sleeves and turtleneck.
Label: Issey Miyake / Pleats Please
Size Label: 3
Style/Serial No.: PP84-JH132

Approximate Measurements (Unstretched)
Shoulders: 20"
Chest: 29.75"
Waist: 26.25"
Hips: 26.25"
Length (high shoulder point to hem): 51.25"
Sleeve (center back neck to hem): 33.25"

THE SECOND 
Beige polyester pleated jacket with long rounded sleeves, v-neckline, and front button closure.
Label: Issey Miyake
Size Label: M
Style/Serial No.: 1M77-FA905

Approximate Measurements (Unstretched)
Shoulders: 16.25"
Chest: 31"
Waist: 29.5"
Hips: 29.5"
Length (high shoulder point to hem): 45.5"
Sleeve (center back neck to hem): 29.75"