Dai Fujiwara for Issey Miyake: Process as Presentation

Issey Miyake, AW11, Paris.

Often when designers present their work it seems that the aim is to make the process look as effortless as possible. So sometimes it’s nice when labels such as Comme des Garcons and Margiela leave little traces of the process behind in the work as a hint at the work of their very talented teams. In the recent Issey Miyake collection the shapes were shown on pattern paper as a comparison to their fabric versions. It works so well because the interesting geometric pattern making used is obviously an incredibly clever process and yet gets hidden in the drapes and folds of the fabric versions.

When zoomed in you can actually see the indications of the cutting and construction process that is written onto the pattern paper to help replicate the intricate folds and stitching lines time after time. Rather than having to write out pages and pages of instructions, well made patterns give most of the clues as to how a garment is to be made.

The use of the paper patterns then gives the whole rest of the collection so much more context. You then start to see the geometric base behind the other pieces as well as giving the geometric prints a stronger relationship to the collection as well.