Pleats Please Issey Miyake

Issey Miyake was developing pleats for more general use when choreographer William Forsythe enlisted his help in designing costumes for a new dance piece. Miyake suspected that light, elastic pleats would be well suited to dance, a suspicion that was confirmed when he saw the dancers darting around playfully during the fittings in Tokyo. The company performed The Loss of Small Detail in pleated clothing made from a knit fabric. The dance piece premiered in Frankfurt in May. Miyake and his team did further research and were able to improve the material and the pleating process. All the efforts came to fruition in the launch of an original brand, PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE, in 1993.