The final line launched under the direction of Issey Miyake in 2021, IM Men is all about clothes for the everyday that tap into the late designer’s philosophy of “a piece of cloth,” later known as A-POC.
“We place more value on practicality and universality as a product than on decorativeness, and aim to create realistic and beautiful designs that encompass human nature,” the label’s leading trio Sen Kawahara, Yuki Itakura and Nobutaka Kobayashi told WWD in an email.
The three are veterans of the Miyake Design Studio, working as both designers and engineers. Kobayashi, in particular, has a focus on textile design. “Our vision is to combine ‘functionality’ and ‘beauty’ to support everyday life,” they also said.
They explore flat foldable designs; employ wrinkle-resistant, lightweight fabrics to make movement and garment care easy, and put the emphasis on a variety of pleats as a way to conform to human movement.
Another focus is making products from a single piece of fabric, maximizing usage as a way to reduce both the assembly process and efforts required to recycle offcuts.
For the first IM Men outing in Paris at 11 a.m. Thursday, expect a collection inspired by the 1977 “Fly With Issey Miyake” show that explored the “a piece of cloth” concept.
The show will be followed by a three-day “Fly With IM Men” exhibition, open to the public and offering a closer look at the crafts and behind-the-scenes processes. The design trio hopes this will create opportunities for dialogues, including with “designers from other fields and students who will be responsible for future garment making.”
“Just as Issey Miyake, our founder, liberated people through concrete ideas such as pleats and A-POC, we aim to create products that transcend all the current barriers of design to bring new perspectives to many people,” the trio added.
The line, stocked at Issey Miyake flagships as well as eponymous stores in major metropolises including as New York, Paris and Tokyo, offers a full range of everyday menswear options that also includes formalwear and suiting as well as shoes.
Prices start at $65 for socks and go up to $3,000 for outerwear. Shirts, jackets and pants fall between $500 and $1,500.
