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With IM MEN, Issey Miyake returns to amaze Paris
New line, new masterpiece
January 24th, 2025
Su Shan Leong
Yesterday, IM MEN's FW25 collection made its official debut in Paris, taking the place once held by Homme Plissé Issey Miyake on the fashion runways – which doesn’t mean that Homme Plissé Issey Miyake has disappeared; it will simply appear in more intimate presentations while the spotlight is taken over by this more avant-garde line. Presented in the evocative setting of the Réfectoire des Cordeliers, a former 16th-century monastery, the show marked the beginning of a new chapter for the legacy of the late master Issey Miyake, who, it can be said, could not be in better hands. IM MEN represents the last great creation of the Japanese genius, launched shortly before his passing in 2022. The brand was born from the union of three designers: Sen Kawahara, Yuki Itakura, and Nobutaka Kobayashi, who worked with Miyake to develop a new and more advanced vision of menswear based on the core concept of his philosophy: "A piece of cloth," which is the cornerstone on which the late designer, his vast team, and his successors have built the complex structure of the brand’s lines and offerings, ranging from fashion to interior design. In this collection, fabric becomes the starting point for a redefinition of clothing, combining craftsmanship, engineering, and a sense of creative freedom. As always a hallmark of the brand, the free movement of the body in clothes also took center stage during yesterday’s presentation, where models ran along the runway, loosening and retying garments, showcasing their lightweight and ingenious architecture. The idea of movement was further explored through an installation by designer Tokujin Yoshioka, who decorated the venue with enormous robotic arms lifting black panels in hypnotic motions.
![With IM MEN, Issey Miyake returns to amaze Paris New line, new masterpiece | Image 550988](https://data2.nssmag.com/images/galleries/41932/thumbs/im-men-tall-57.webp)
But let’s talk about the collection. The pieces showcased during the show, as expected, explored the boundary between fashion and sculpture, playing with the empty space between the body and the fabric, which, through the movement of the models—whether it was simple walking, running, or dancing—took on various forms and, depending on the construction of the individual pieces, revealed new functionalities. As always, this type of research into the “flow” of garments around the human body stemmed from in-depth technical exploration of materials, many of which were sustainable, such as plant-based polyester and a type of artificial suede called Ultrasuede. These materials were cut and assembled following multifunctional principles, bringing reversible coats, jackets with modular panels, and removable padding to the models’ bodies. The various possibilities for assembling and reassembling the garments, as well as their overall adaptability, were divided into several design series, each with different names. The most notable was called “Flat Drape” and consisted of garments made from lightweight fabric, whose draping starts from precise geometric shapes that transform into soft, fluid silhouettes. The pieces in the “Wall” series, on the other hand, reinterpreted outerwear by using interior panels to create three-dimensional structures, while “Heron,” featuring pieces made with Ultrasuede, was a series of perforated garments. The “Switch” and “Metallic Ultra Boa” pieces experimented with nylon and metallic finishes, while the “Kasuri” series reimagined the weaving technique of the same name by using pre-dyed cotton yarns to create gradient patterns.
It was, however, inevitable that a comparison would be drawn between the two presentations—the new IM MAN and the classic Homme Plissé Issey Miyake. While the philosophy that animates the brand and its various branches possesses an undeniable unity, the new IM MAN line appears decidedly more structured compared to Homme Plissé Issey Miyake, where menswear presentations maintained a certain concreteness but with a more rarefied flair. The new line, on the other hand, while «soaring upwards with lightness», features a more resolute and concrete design, though equally ingenious. The volumes are certainly fuller and more sculptural, while the type of layering presented is highly captivating, with its complex architecture being particularly evident in the initial total white looks on the runway. Continuity elements included the taste for articulated and almost abstract draping, always very evocative, and, of course, the stunning use of simple yet incredibly rich colors. Another interesting aspect was the variety of textures showcased, from the sturdier Ultrasuede jackets to the softer padded garments, to the shimmering, synthetic surfaces of certain angularly designed jacket-and-pants ensembles, and the density of the two black-and-white looks, where what appears to be a blanket is carried or draped over the arm like a cape, or wrapped around the body like a hybrid garment halfway between a stole, a scarf, and a coat. From the richness of this new line, it becomes clear why the brand decided to replace the classic and ever-beautiful Homme Plissé Issey Miyake presentation with this IM MAN one, which is certainly deserving of a prominent position in the vast panorama of the creative world established by Issey Miyake.