What would happen if garments became conscious beings? If they could think or act on their own, what would they do to us? Would they shape us or reshape us? Imagine a dystopian reality where we can no longer control what we wear, where we become subject to our clothes. They transform our posture, choose how they are worn, come to life, and change at will. A reality where we are enslaved by our garments, victims of our own creations and overconsumption. It doesn’t sound so distant, does it? For their latest collection, Issey Miyake goes beyond the traditional idea of clothing as something that protects us or as tools of self-expressions, and instead treats garments as living beings with their own consciousness and soul, exploring how body and clothes can coexist and dialogue.
Sleeves appear from unexpected places, collars multiply and expand as if trying to free themselves, pockets detach. Issey Miyake brings clothes to life as they wear the body that welcomes them. The collection was presented at the Centre Pompidou, with space and sound curated by Tarek Atoui and crafted from organic materials like stone, water, animal skins, pottery, and ceramics, echoing the tension between fabrication and life, between the mechanical and the sentient. As the show unfolds, the garments seem to talk, their rustling and friction becoming voices.
At first, we are introduced to looks with grotesque shapes, and a sense of unease slowly creeps in. The garments have taken full control, they deform our posture and body with exaggerated shoulders and sleeves that seem to suffocate the wearer, screaming in bold letters ‘I’m autonome’, ‘I am animated’, and a red bag reads words like reproduction, metabolism and growth – terms from the world of biology – as if the clothes were announcing that they are alive, that they can grow, and reproduce like human beings.
Sleeves grow from trousers, trousers bloom from other trousers, shirts from other shirts, allowing for multiple ways of wearing and layering. Shoes grow on chests and pants, turning into pockets and reproducing themselves like a foreign organism sprouting where it shouldn’t. The bodies are suffocated by overconsumption and consumerism. Large pockets placed in uncommon places trap random objects such as toilet paper, pens, bottles, once again transforming the body of the wearer. Jackets grow from the back of a shirt, clothes trap the arms and prevent free movement while shoe boxes turn into handbags.
But then, toward the end, balance is found again. The body and the garment return to dialogue, and harmony seems to be restored. The garment still has a life of its own but no longer dominates the wearer, both entities seem to coexist peacefully. The volumes remain ample but they move with grace. Clothes grow like plants, free but not longer suffocating, more controlled. Sleeves, collars and openings, still placed in unconventional positions, now allow more fluid movements and, as layering expands these possibilities, the act of dressing becomes open, interpretative and free.
Although the founder passed away in 2022, Satoshi Kondo continues to carry forward his vision. Issey Miyake is today, as always, one of the pioneers of what Claire Wilcox defined as “radical fashion,” in the exhibition bearing that same name. The brand continues to approach fashion in a non-conventional yet deeply contemporary way. By deconstructing and reconstructing shapes and volumes, Issey Miyake, in a poetic way, presents something far beyond mere clothing, a world not too distant from our own. We are invited to reflect on the level of autonomy we are giving to technology and artificial intelligence, and how, just like with clothes, we are allowing these creations to take control of our lives.
