Last week we visited the Issey Miyake exhibition MIYAKE ISSEY EXHIBITION: The Work of Miyake Issey at Tokyo’s National Arts Center in Roppongi. Spread into four rooms, the exhibition showcases the entirely of the Japanese designer’s vast and illustrious career from 1970 to present day. Tracing the years of Miyake’s ever evolved approach design, the exhibition spans his early work relating a piece of cloth to the body with his Tattoos Spring Summer collection in 1971, through his infamous Waterfall Body collection from Autumn Winter of 1984, shown on cardboard and plastic bodices created specially for the exhibition by designer Tokujin Yoshioka.
The third area of the exhibition is perhaps the most impressive, focusing on the designers unique approach to making clothes. Divided into five themes, the Taku Sato-designed room centres on discovery of how Miyake looked at a piece of cloth as a means to create from, as well as hands on look at the creation of the revolutionary special process called garment pleating, in which a piece of fabric is pleated after it is sewn to produce sharp defined lines. Using a piece of cloth, Miyake reinvented this process, fabric, and the shapes he created over his collections using washi paper, horsehair and raffia among others.
The fourth room sums up his career as a whole over the years through a giant timeline including media inclusions, collaborations, collections, and notable achievements. Also featured is a film displaying Miyake’s ideas on making clothes entitled ‘Making Things’.
The exhibition sheds considerable light on Miyake’s ideas and his process that have remained constant through his years to promote and gain greater creative possibility.
Check out some photos from the exhibition below. Visit the MIYAKE ISSEY EXHIBITION: The Work of Miyake Issey now through June 13th at the National Art Center in Tokyo’s Roppongi area.
