Issey Miyake: Around the World with Yuriko Takagi. First rolled out as a part of Issey Misyake’s namesake label, Pleats Please Issey Miyake would be launched as a side label in the spring of 1994, as a line to exclusively sell Miyake’s famous pleated garments. Made using a technique known as garment pleating, the clothes are pleated as whole garments using machinery and heat, to create the iconic pieces. Of course, how the clothes are made and the technology used to do so are not entirely what make these garments so interesting and desired. Beyond just how aesthetically pleasing they are, Pleats Please Issey Miyake represents a line of functional garments that are wearable in everyday life, both professionally and casually. These clothes were and are not merely garments for a runway, but for the everyday, modern working professional, and in particular the professional woman. As Miyake said in an interview “Pleats Please Issey Miyake is a comprehensive response to the evolution of the condition of women.” This is to say that Pleats Please Issey Miyake was meant to not merely be for those women who have the luxury to be able to dress outrageously, but for those who do professional white collar work. In this way Pleats Please Issey Miyake was a reaction to the reactionary ideal of women not belonging in the workplace, let alone expressing themselves at one, along with the idea that fashion belonged to the elite. From this context it is easy to understand the implications and undertones of the Travel through the Planet series as photographed by Yuriko Takagi. The photos themselves simply capture everyday people from various countries simply living their day to day lives in Pleats Please Issey Miyake, as Miyake intended. From the barren sub-Sahara of Kenya, to an urbanized village in China, the Travel through the Planet series acts as an attempt to strike down the idea that fashion is only for the few and not the many. During his life Issey Miyake was staunchly anti-elitist at heart, and this project is a clear reflection of this beautiful sentiment. Writer: @isaacd4v15 Scan Provider: @f.liiiz