Ensemble
This Pleats Please outfit with “staircase” sleeves by Japanese designer Issey Miyake exemplifies his groundbreaking work both in terms of construction innovation as well as in terms of innovative fabric development and treatment. In 1993, Miyake patented a new pleating technique by first cutting and sewing garments on a scale of 3 times the size, then precisely folding, ironing, and placing the sewn ensembles, sandwiched between paper into a heat press to create permanent pleats. He has continued the Pleats Please collection separately from his main line ever since, to great commercial success. The use of autonomous, geometric shapes that have no direct relationship to the body’s outline, in combination with the elastic pleated fabric which forms a space around the body, give the wearer a lot of freedom of movement. This “architecture for the body” is one of the hallmark characteristics of Miyake’s oeuvre.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ensemble
- Designer: Issey Miyake (Japanese, 1938–2022)
- Date: ca. 1994
- Culture: Japanese
- Medium: (a) polyester, metal; (b) polyester
- Credit Line: Gift of Estate of Jean Stein, 2017
- Object Number: 2017.690.7a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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