Can clothing possess consciousness? In the Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Issey Miyake seems to answer yes with humor, lightness, and a touch of philosophy. The show that opened the fifth day of Paris Fashion Week began with a symbolic shrug a gesture that was both playful and profound. In that subtle motion lay the spirit of the entire collection: fashion as a dialogue between body and material, between awareness and fabric.
Titled “Being Garments, Being Sentient,” the collection invited the audience to reconsider the relationship between humans and what they wear. Miyake’s designers treated the body as an object to be redefined, and clothing as an entity with its own identity. Models moved in rhythm with live music performed by Tarek Atou, while the fabrics seemed to react to every motion as if they too could feel. The audience witnessed not merely a fashion show, but a performance piece combining sound, movement, and sculptural form.
On the runway appeared silhouettes with asymmetrical shoulder pads, ribbed polo shirts, short-sleeved button ups, and oversized printed T-shirts. Everything was slightly shifted from conventional tailoring rules shirts buttoned in the back, sleeves left to hang freely, and wool blazers stripped of their sleeves. The garments did not submit to the body; they coexisted with it, moving independently as if endowed with will. Jackets were reimagined as trousers, cropped hoodies revealed protruding shoulders, and shirts fluttered in rhythm with each step. This was fashion that didn’t just dress the body it conversed with it, transforming clothing into a living partner rather than a silent shell.
Miyake’s signature experiments with volume and texture took on new meaning here. Draping was no longer mere decoration but a language of movement and emotion. Dresses resembled sculptures in motion, creating the illusion of constant flow between body and space. The color palette drew from nature soft blues, greens, and earthy tones set against unexpected contrasts. Botanical prints and ribbed fabrics deepened the sense of organic harmony, where every element seemed deliberate, alive, and in conversation with its surroundings.
The finale unfolded with a quiet wink. Models walked the runway carrying minimalist CAMPERLAB boxes, revealing a new slip-on footwear collection for Spring/Summer 2026. The gesture simple yet poetic captured the essence of Miyake’s philosophy: fashion only matters when it unites function and thought, daily wear and contemplation.
Issey Miyake’s SS26 collection is a reminder that clothing need not be a passive layer in our everyday lives. It can be a sentient companion a reflection, a question, a dialogue. This is fashion that neither shouts nor insists. It breathes, it listens, and, just like at the show’s beginning, it merely shrugs its shoulders.
Photos courtesy of Isidore Montag/Gorunway.com
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