AT ISSEY Miyake, performance art replaced the runway as models started circling the floor when out of the air, three brightly coloured hoop dresses appeared catching the eyes of the audience as they were lowered onto the models. As African Nights by Eric Muller and Maurin Zahnd started to play, its cheery beats aligned with the springiness of the dresses as the models bounced up and down in unison.
Jazzy and joyful, the models danced around each other, hopping and swinging the dresses as they did so. In an explosion of happiness, the show was anything but passive as models appeared on skateboards, riding through the show space with big smiles. The Miyake signature pleat is present on a number of horizontally striped dresses, while splashes of raspberry red, cobalt blue and sunshine yellow celebrating the act of movement and lightness which clothes creates.
A maximalist approach was taken to every aspect of design, from head to toe, nothing was too forgotten. Straw hats were complex constructed into art pieces on top of the models’ heads. Other, wide-brimmed hats looked delicate and fragile as if they were made out of crepe paper while fringe-hemmed dresses and bags twirled with the models further enhanced movement and vitality.
Newly appointed designer Satoshi Kondo created a show that was just as amusing as it was beautiful and futuristic. Kondo’s decision to replace the catwalk with performance spoke to what the audience really want to see during fashion week, a celebration of fashion itself – fun, lively and colourful.
by Mirabella Shahidullah