Props (and thanks) to Vogue colleague José Criales-Unzueta, who after this show noted and posted to his Instagram a runway redux of Issey Miyake’s Spring 1998 show written by Laird Borrelli-Persson. As you can see by comparing the galleries, Miyake’s “tube veils” from that year were riffed on—and extended into real veils—by Satoshi Kondo at this morning’s show in Paris. That was one of Miyake’s final shows as creative director: following his death last summer, the Miyake family continues to hold the candle for their founder.
This tribute, which felt as fresh and exciting to the eye as it must have 25 years ago, opened a beautiful collection. Kondo’s dynamic experiments with high twist yarns played against the bodies beneath them in a manner comparable to the fluttering of a flag in the breeze, an image that the designer cited as a starting point. At points of movement, hips and shoulders, the fabric found its own volume and settled into a natural, unenforced drape created by the human weather within it.
A series of prints showing grainy shafts of light were developed from exposed film, another 1990s throwback. Then we saw painstakingly fashioned dresses cut from single tubes of washi paper and polyester mix that were manipulated to fold back and forth around subtle cut-out sections: these were both highly technical and deeply romantic. The models sometimes wore Vibram-soled barefoot running shoes by New Balance in Kondo directed colorways.
Some large-silhouette jackets and coats appeared so considerable thanks to the way in which the front and back facing pieces of material were placed flat against each other around the edge of the front-facing physical facade: this was a little reminiscent of last season’s collection, and retained an impressive combination of substance and lightness. The soundsystem played a bassline so heavy and loud that the pieces of washi paper hanging across the runway turned and trembled as the models walked breezily by.
Collection
This article was originally published on Vogue Runway.
