Beyond Pleates: The Enduring Genius of Issey Miyake

Few designers have managed to create clothing that feels futuristic and timeless. Yet more than a decade after his passing, Issey Miyake’s work remains as relevant as ever. While fashion is often obsessed with the next season, the next trend and next reinvention, Miyake spent his career asking a different question entirely: how can clothing better serve the people who wear it?

Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Miyake’s life and work were shaped by an extraordinary combination of personal experience, artistic curiosity and technological optimism. After studying graphic design in Tokyo, he worked in Paris for both Guy Laroche and Hubert de Givenchy before spending time in New York. These experiences exposed him to both haute couture and the rapidly changing cultural landscape of the late 1960’s inspiring him to forge a path that was distinctly his own.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Miyake’s career was his willingness to collaborate across disciplines. He worked with engineers, architects, photographers and industrial designers., viewing clothing not simply as fashion but as a form of design capable of solving practical problems. This approach led to some of the most innovative garments of the twentieth century, many of which are now represented in museum collections around the world.

Perhaps his most famous breakthrough came with the development of Pleats Please in the early 1990s. Unlike traditional pleated garments, which are cut from already pleated fabric, Miyake’s team developed a process in which finished garments were pleated after construction. The result was clothing that was lightweight, wrinkle-resistant, easy to travel with and remarkably adaptable to different body shapes. What began as a technical experiment because one of the most successful and recognizable fashion concepts evercreated.

Another fascinating example of Miyake’s inventive spirit was A-POC, or “A piece of Cloth”, launched in collaboration with textile engineer Fai Fujiwara. Using computer-programmed knitting and weaving technologies, entire garments could be produced from a single continuous tube of fabric, allowing wearers to cut and customize pieces themselves. Long before sustainability became a central concern within fashion, Miyake wasexploring ways to reduce waste and rethink how clothing could be manufactured.

The Quiet Beauty of HaaT

Among the many lines developed under the Issey Miyake umbrella, HaaT occupies a particularly fascinating place.

Established in 2000. The name HaaT derives from the words “Heart” and “Hand”, reflecting a philosophy rooted in craftsmanship and human touch. While Pleats Please celebrated technological innovation, HaaT explored traditional textile techniques, natural fibers, and artisanal processes from around the world.

Several examples in our 20^th/21^st Century Design Sale on 7^th June 2026 demonstrate the breadth of Miyak’s creative vision beyond his most recognizable pleated garments. These pieces reveal a designer equally interested in heritage craft, texture and the relationship between clothing and the human body.

The garments offered in this sale are more than examples of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century fashion. Viewed together, the single owner collection of Issey Miyake and HaaT, provides a snapshot of a designer whose influence continues to resonate across fashion, art and design. It is both a celebration of Issey Miyake’s enduring legacy and a reminder that truly innovative clothing rarely loses its relevance.

These pieces will be accessable within the collection of 36 vintage fashion items such as bags, shoes, sets and jackets in our 20/21 Century Design auction on the 9th of June starting at 1:00pm. Viewing days will be held on the days leading up to auction day:

Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 10am-1pm, Monday 10am-5pm and Sale day from 10:00am