Issey Miyake Takes Flight

Sen Kawahara, Yuki Itakura, and Nobutka Kobayashi are the three names behind the launch of IM Men, an offshoot of the legendary Japanese label Issey Miyake. Although marketed as a reboot of their menswear line, the trio have continued to weave what we expect from a Miyake-approved collection: Japanese sensibilities and pristine design philosophy. It’s also the last collection to have been personally influenced by the late designer prior to his passing in 2022, presenting a celebration of a life’s work and raising the question: Where does the future of the Miyake legacy lie?
According to the brand, their Fall/Winter 25 collection stuck to a singular tenet: “a piece of cloth taking flight.” It’s a broad yet striking metaphor that was reflected on the runway, set within the walls of an early 16th century Parisian monastery. Models and dancers graced the runway in Japanese-inspired silhouettes and hues of every form. The intricate textures of the label’s innovative weaving techniques echo their pursuit of combining heritage and innovative patternmaking and questioning how we can push fashion into the future. See it in the parachute pants with pleats within their draping or the structural integrity of a vibrant floor-length trenchcoat. Sleek, yet purposeful craftsmanship informed each design, for both fluidity and motion in mind.
At the heart of the runway was an art installation designed by Tokujin Yoshioka. In it, a singular piece of black cloth held up by a robotic arm—a poignant centrepiece that spoke to the collection’s ethos of simplicity and functionality. Everything the collection embodied returned to the design and engineering of the single cloth concept.
As a fashion house that is at a turning point and is finding its identity beyond a past heritage, IM Men succeeds as neither a metamorphosis nor a tribute act, somehow drawing from the signature aesthetics Miyake popularised to push the garments beyond just pleats. To carve a new path, the trio behind the label doesn’t risk relying on already recognisable brand codes. Rather, they took the brand’s past and evolved it into wearable garments worthy of future retrospectives.