Sometimes, I surprise even myself.
Living between “writer’s block” and “floodgates” does a heavy one on the head, but when the ideas get flowing it’s sure a trip and a half.
It’s less about thinking about what should be coming up next and instead getting a fleeting hunch about it. And when you finally come to realize what’s going on, then you are already far into the journey.
Like stepping into the projections in the PRISM project, a new experiment from the mad laboratory of Issey Miyake and Francis Giacobetti. Accosting your sight and sound, giant images swirl in random (un)precision, stretching the subjects’ bodies in impossible poses. Take a step inside…
I sent my coffee table in my living room to the garbage pile with the glass cracked, and since then I have been piling up all of my photography books creating the illusion of a coffee table. Right now on the top of that pile is the “Pleats Please” book just published by Taschen.
It is not just an homage to the genius that is Issey Miyake’s PLEATS PLEASE brand of clothing, but a thorough look at how it was invented, developed and finally brought to fruition. It’s like…you wonder “Who discovered that mashing up coca beans and adding sugar would make Chocolate?!” or “How did one realize that fermenting cow milk would create cheese?!”. The mysteries of life! Well, with this book, the mystery of Miyake’s impossibly permanently pleated garment, the one that can be washed and squished and stuffed and worn for eons and still keep its shape, is revealed in detail (lots of experimentation, inventing new textiles, turning and twisting a pleat on its axes..yada, yada, ohhh, nothing special).
My image of Pleats Please was that for women who travel who might be older and given up on dressing in fancy clothes on trips. And then I saw how well Susie Bubble made the line look young and fresh and my interest was piqued. Since then I have watching it, collecting anectdotes and editorials, and even advertisements. My FAVORITE are the sushi and 2012 40th anniversary “Delicious” ads!
Looking at them again, I see just how true it is that these clothes do NOT go out of style. I know it’s not how the fashion cycle works, but oh how I wish I procure some archives!
Dazed and Confused June 2012 Photography Alex Sainsbury Styling Robbie Spencer
Also, the PLEATS PLEASE brand has just released its first ever fragrance. The first people to ever wear the PLEATS PLEASE brand were dancers, so to celebrate there is a dance performance being held at Tokyo Midtown next wed. 31st.
Miyake sure is a mad genius… and while Pleats Please has been around for many decades now, Miyake hasn’t relented on inventing new clothing. You HAVE seen his new “132 5.” origami brand right?
