For Issey Miyake Spring Summer 2027, Satoshi Kondo proves that remaining faithful to an unmistakable house code does not mean standing still. At Issey Miyake, pleats once again become the starting point for an entirely new world
Few fashion houses possess a visual language as instantly recognisable as Issey Miyake. Pleats, movement and the relationship between fabric and body have become part of its identity to such an extent that they could easily turn into a formula. Yet season after season, the house manages to avoid repetition. Issey Miyake Spring Summer 27 fascination lies precisely here: remaining loyal to a signature while continuously discovering what else it can become.
For Issey Miyake Spring Summer 2027, Satoshi Kondo explores this idea through Figure of Ma, a collection inspired by the Japanese concept of ma — the space existing between things. Here, that space is the air between fabric and body: an invisible element that becomes almost as important as the garment itself.
The starting point was deliberately elementary. Before thinking about clothes, Kondo and his team experimented with an enormous piece of lightweight fabric, observing what happened when it was lifted, moved, wrapped around the body or simply allowed to capture air. From this exercise emerged silhouettes that rarely seem static. Garments expand, contract, float and transform as the wearer moves.
But rather than treating them as an archive reference or a nostalgic house signature, Kondo continues to investigate their possibilities. In the Tempo Pleats series, horizontal pleats bounce as the body moves, creating curved forms that appear almost inflated by air. Elsewhere, transparency, sheer textiles and generous volumes turn fabric into something closer to a moving surface than a conventional garment.
That sense of movement runs throughout the collection. Voluminous outerwear swells away from the body; lightweight fabrics create sculptural silhouettes without heaviness; knits trace organic lines across the skin. The palette — moving through yellow, pink, violet, blue and softer neutral tones — reinforces the feeling of lightness rather than competing with the construction.
There is experimentation beyond pleating too. Sculptural torso pieces developed with Japanese lingerie company Wacoal bring technology into the conversation, while the Balloon Twist and Billow series explore volume through fabrics designed to hold, release and reshape air. Yet even at its most technical, the collection never feels cold. Innovation at Issey Miyake remains intrinsically connected to the human body and to the simple pleasure of wearing clothes.
Perhaps this is why the house continues to feel so relevant. In an industry constantly demanding reinvention, Issey Miyake offers another possibility: evolution without erasure. The pleat remains. The philosophy remains. But around them, Satoshi Kondo keeps building different worlds. Even footwear participates in this investigation.
The ongoing Camper x Issey Miyake collaboration introduces two new designs for the season. Peu Lift reinterprets Camper’s iconic Peu through a raised, curved heel and an asymmetrical upper inspired by traditional Japanese footwear. Peu Formula, meanwhile, transforms the original Peu Form into what the brands describe as a lightweight wearable sculpture: a monomaterial shoe moulded from the contours of a worn pair, preserving the traces and irregularities created by movement.