Issey Miyake's pants
Pants that are ART and FUNCTION
Issey Miyake died recently and I wanted to talk about how his approach to fashion and clothes was more like art. And that is what makes his pants perfect.
The pants
Here they are a bit bigger:
Here they are before they get pleated:
The art
There’s this thing in Japanese design sensibility that it’s all quite connected with philosophy and nature. This is a pretty good quote from Miyake:
When I was in Egypt, heading down the Nile towards Alexandria, I saw the sails on the boats and I thought, “Wow, Wind and Cloth”. The interaction between cloth and the human body, the wind, Nature — was my investigation, my research.
It’s a bit of a goofy quote, because like, I think that an absolute stoner would say some shit like this.
And yet, with that kind of brainwave the man has just devoted his life to some of the most forward-thinking pleated clothes. The wearer, simply by the act of wearing the pants, breathes a specific kind of life into them.
But at the same time, the pleats on these pants are kind of silly and clowny. And that lack of seriousness, I feel, is a marker of someone who is absolutely confident in what they have created.
Watch this video from 10:30 and you’ll get the weird clowny movement.
The function
Alright, I’ll stop talking about how nature and cloth and design interact, andwhy these pants are philosophically good. Now you’ll see why these pants are functionally good.
1. They do not crease
You can scrunch them, flatten them, throw them on the floor, and they won’t get upset. This is the most useable, expensive, high fashion item I own. Even my pets sleeping in them hasn’t really caused an issue.
2. They fit a lot of sizes
Because the pants are pleated, and therefore made of a buttload of fabric, they extend in and out of size. Up, or down, no matter where you’re bod’s at you can get about it.
3. You can wash them normally
These are made out of polyester. You can put them in the washing machine (cold water!) and they’ll come out perfect.
4. Wear literally anything else with them
They are home pants, they are going out pants, they are in between pants. You can do anything with these pants
5. Squish them up really small
If you’re travelling, they are so light and tiny and you can just shove them into your carry on. Or, wear them on the flight. I bet it would be great.
The cost
If you want these pants for full price they cost like $500. That’s a lot. I spent 5 years tossing up buying them because they were so expensive, but now that I’ve done it, I have no regrets at all.
You can also get them second-hand for a fair bit cheaper — I got mine from a place called Jauce, which is sorta like a Japanese eBay.
Thanks Issey
In 2006, Issey won the Kyoto prize in Arts and Philosophy, literally for the pleats on these pants. He is the only fashion designer to have won this award, for the following reason:
His broad-ranging activities have not only had an enormous influence on other art genres, but also proved that clothing design is an excellent medium of expression in contemporary art, and elevated clothing production to a philosophical level.
Anyway, the beauty of Pleats Please is this: it’s one of the few things in the world that successfully fuse technology, nature, and movement. That is, utility and beauty are combined in their entirety. And that’s pretty cool.
Love,
Sam