DESIGNER MOOD BOARD: ISSEY MIYAKE

Satoshi Kondo’s debut collection was an ode to the beauty of female joy, drawing new life into the Japanese label this season. By Jacyln Tang.

For his debut collection at the iconic Japanese maison, creative director Satoshi Kondo sought respite in performance art, culminating in a collection that expressed joy in the most unlikely of ways. “It was the idea of happiness that can be established in getting dressed every day, of finding an outfit that makes your day,” said Kondo, on the optimism of the house’s sunny disposition, evident on the collection’s brightly hued pleated dresses. It is here that he subsumed traditional Japanese craftsmanship like sashiko (little stabs) from his native Edo period and itajime (a resist dyeing technique), preserving age-old heritage in newfound innovations. “Maximum elasticity on the garbs when models leaped around was attained from the same mastery in the Pleats Please collection,” he continued, alluding to the fluidity of the collection, like in a hoop-stretched colour-striped dress that bounced according to kinetic energy, or parachute jackets which billowed as models glided past on, quite interestingly, skateboards. Having been handpicked by the eponymous founder to lead the house in its next phase, he aspires to imbue future collections with even more unexpected twists as he did with his latest presentation. “I wasn’t trying to go back to the brand’s roots. I just wanted to interpret and modernise the spirit of Issey Miyake in my own way,” Kondo concluded.

Matisse whiteand-blues handpainted with human figures Face-covering long cagoules make for fine festival wear Horizontally striped dress deconstructed to give that resilient effect A whimsical take on traditional headwear ‘Issey Miyake’ stitchings in tiny letters Zeroing into craftsmanship with hand-painted prints, signifying gesture of warmth A sleeveless billowy dress morphed from parachute materials Motifs were fashioned by compressing fabrics to make it resistant to dye