Into the Wilds of Creativity with Ronan Bouroullec

Homme Plissé from Issey Miyake collaborated with the great French design master Ronan Bouroullec this season and the result was an unexpected and jubilant collection.

Presented inside the Palais de Tokyo, on whose curving walls were flattened items of clothing inspired by Ronan Bouroullec’s meticulous drawings. Many cut in jigsaw shapes, making it hard to imagine them hanging on the torso, until the cast appeared wearing them.
 
Ronan Bouroullec uses Japanese felt tip brushes in meticulous and delicate strokes to create a meditative style. An ideal accompaniment to Miyake clothes, that are usually generously sized garments made in plissé polyester. 

Ronan had already worked with the house of Miyake, back in 2000 designing their famed concept A-POC store. Like the Breton born Bouroullec, whose style is often described as poetic practicality, this collection felt lush evocative yet also enveloping and comforting.
 
Many were models wrapped in asymmetrical coats in punchy colors –cool green, purple-like mauve – all worn over a series of great ribbed shirts, tanks and tops – featuring Bouroullec’s swirling brush strokes. Several coats were made in single pieces of cloth, respecting founder Issey’s sculptural style and love of a single piece of beautiful cloth. 

 
One black model with a super spiky afro, marched proudly in a Venetian red coat, worn with bright orange pants, looking simply sensational. The entire collection anchored by lowered Chelsea boots, with lots of ankle on display.
 
No wonder the house entitled the collection Immersed in the Wilds of Creativity, the clothes were so vibrant and dynamic.
 
Miyake, one of the Four Masters of post-war Japanese fashion along with Kenzo Takada, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, passed away in August 2022 aged 84 after a remarkable career. Though the aesthetic he created with his brand remains very strong. So much so, that this link-up with Ronan Bouroullec looks like being one of the key shows of the 13-day international menswear season which climaxes in Paris on Sunday night.
 
Miyake, who in his youth worked for Hubert de Givenchy churning out over 50 drawings daily, would surely have loved this elegant take on painterly fashion. Vita artem imitatur.
 
As this collection was created by a design team, nobody took any ovation. But if they had, they should have bowed down to Miyake San, and to his inimitable DNA.