Spring 2010 Preview: Issey Miyake




 Diary of a lifelong, wanna-be fashionista’s first Paris Fashion Week, by Victoria Yeager Sawyer


ISSEY MIYAKE at Le Carrousel du Louvre, Salle Le Nôtre, 1st Arrondissement, October 2, 2009


Different from the palatial setting of Balmain, the Issey Miyake runway show was held in one of the large halls within the Louvre museum complex.


Straight hair hung loose on fresh-faced models as they wandered across a square white runway in what appeared to me, like much of the collection, intentionally haphazard. Designer Dai Fujiwara called this collection “NEWS”, for North, East, West, and South, for his inspiration from each region.


NEWS is an eclectic mix of opposites – neutrals and bright colors, solid pieces and ethnic prints, traditional fabrics and unusual weaves and textures, a variety of silhouettes ranging from skin-tight to loose and flowing. There were a few pieces I liked a lot: a boxy seafoam green coat that reminded me of Jackie O., a short black shift dress decorated with squares of fabric and gray feathers, and a flowing, scarf-like cobalt blue and white dress that would be just right for poolside in Santorini or St. Barts, though most of the collection was a little too funky for my taste. I was also not a fan of the shoes – boxy, thick-soled flats in white, black, metallic and even bright pink – though they were some of the most wearable shoes I saw all week.


Issey Miyake’s show culminated with all of the models onstage walking in patterns like moving artwork.