Issey Miyake stages a jazzy happening for Homme Plissé

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Jan 17, 2020

Issey Miyake's guests were plunged into a jazzy, New York atmosphere at his show at Paris Fashion Week Men's on Thursday. As in previous seasons, the Japanese brand had called in choreographer Daniel Ezralow to help present this Fall/Winter 2020-21 collection for Homme Plissé, the line of timeless, mostly pleated basics by the house's founder, Issey Miyake himself, who has been showing his collections during the French capital's men's fashion week since June 2019.

The result was a joyful and inclusive show, where smiling models warmly shook audience members' hands, as they presented a simultaneously energetic and airy collection. The first of them to take to the stage walked cheerfully around in super-comfortable jackets and trousers, carrying enormous discs under their arms and bursting with vibrant, shimmering colours. The collection's bold palette was particularly enchanting.

A jazz quintet of trumpeters and saxophonists dressed in outfits with colourful prints and monochrome shoes in shades of yellow, purple, green and sky blue, was playing Gershwin's famous Rhapsody in Blue. When the solos began, the stage was invaded by models wrapped in voluminous parkas and waterproofs featuring large abstract motifs.

As the musicians played one jazz classic after another, from Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man to Paul Desmond's Take Five, via Sing Sing Sing, as played by Benny Goodman in 1937, the luminous hoops that surrounded the stage were continuously moved around in a perpetual reconfiguration of the space which accompanied the rhythm of each new piece being played.

Eight double bass players appeared wearing knitted outfits composed of large sleeveless gilets, jackets and mosaic pants or beige jumpsuits. Then an acrobat in short, loose trousers, swept onto the stage, spinning at the centre of a giant ring and adding to the feeling of a merry-go-round or a never-ending round, where living clothes seemed to stretch, bounce and float around the room. 

Cubist-style musical instruments decorated the backs of colourful waterproofs in shades of royal blue, golden yellow, vermilion and emerald, giving the impression of moving paintings. Three models in flowing trenches sneaked a drummer and all of his drums into the centre of the stage.

He was quickly joined by the remaining musicians, who all launched into the grand finale. Models wearing suits and tail coats in an undulating pleated fabric, along with bow ties and a range of crooner-worthy hats, danced around in a frenzied ball. And then, with incredible grace, they invited audience members to join them, even if very few were brave enough to take them up on the offer.