When a person wears a piece of cloth, body and fabric come into contact, yet never fully become one. Air enters the space between them. As the body moves, the cloth moves with it, and the space itself begins to change. For its Spring/Summer 2027 collection, ISSEY MIYAKE turns its attention to this invisible in-between: ma.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
Titled Figure of Ma, the collection was presented on October 2 at the Dojo de Paris, home of the French Judo Federation in Paris. It began with the simple act of playing with a large piece of fabric. Satoshi Kondo and the design team returned to something that precedes even the concept of “clothing,” exploring the fundamental form of ma that emerges through the interaction between body and cloth. What they found was not an empty space, but a generous realm of possibility that allows both body and clothing to become freer.
The ma that emerges between body and garment has no fixed form. Fabric sways as one walks and bounces as one dances. Filled with air, it expands; settling against the body, it traces new curves. Its form changes continuously with the movement of the wearer. The words that open the collection evoke fabric taking in air and beginning to “breathe,” capturing this sense of constant transformation.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
One expression of this idea is BALLOON TWIST. Inspired by the movement of a large piece of fabric undulating as it captures air, the series deliberately creates ma between body and garment through rounded volumes. Ball-shaped molds are inserted into the fabric, which is then twisted and bound by hand, producing delicate creases and sculptural forms that appear to hold air within them.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
In BILLOW, voluminous trousers constructed from a single piece of fabric create sweeping movements around the body. TEMPO PLEATS begins with a single rectangular piece of fabric: openings allow the body to pass through, transforming the flat plane naturally into a rounded three-dimensional form that holds air around the wearer.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
Rather than determining the shape of a garment first and fitting the body inside it, ISSEY MIYAKE allows form to emerge through the presence of the body, its movement, and the air held between body and cloth.
BALLOONING, a defining series of the season, makes this relationship even more explicit. Inspired by the form of a balloon expanding around the body, the garments are cut shorter in front and longer in back, drawing in air with every movement of the wearer. They inflate, sway, and return toward the body—as though the clothes themselves were breathing alongside the person wearing them.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
FLUIGLYPH, a seamless knit series depicting the fluid motion of water, similarly generates form through its relationship with the body rather than through a fixed silhouette. Yarns of different thicknesses, irregularly arranged garter stitches, transparency, and tactile ridges come together in a knit that stretches with the wearer, producing flowing organic curves.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
For BUBBLE (INK MARBLING), translucent film organza with a soap-bubble-like luster becomes a canvas for ink marbling. Artisans in Kyoto hand-paint each pattern by dripping pigment onto water, creating images inspired by balloons rising into the sky. No two are exactly alike. Combined with forms that shift as they fill with air, the technique gives another expression to the richness of never remaining entirely still.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
COCOON BODY approaches ma from another direction, questioning not only the distance between body and clothing but the boundary between the two.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
Created in collaboration between ISSEY MIYAKE and Wacoal Corp., the series adapts “Melooop,” Wacoal’s proprietary three-dimensional molding technology originally developed for applications including brassiere cups. Based on the melt-blown process, the technology has been developed for garment production by attaching a torso mold to a robotic arm, establishing a new methodology for clothes-making. Formed by spraying melted resin in a process reminiscent of a silkworm spinning its cocoon, the resulting object seems to exist somewhere between garment and body.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
What makes the process particularly compelling is that technology is not used to erase the presence of the human hand. In developing the original form, garments were draped and dampened on torso mannequins. The subtle sensibility of the maker embedded in those forms was then captured through 3D scanning and translated into the mold. Body and cloth, handcraft and technology—the boundaries between them cease to function as fixed lines.
In this collection, ma does not exist only between body and cloth. Kondo and the design team invited pianist Koki Nakano into the creative process, developing a dialogue in which music composition and clothes-making responded to one another around the idea of richness.
Copyright © ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
Rather than simply placing two different creative disciplines side by side—making clothes and making music, the visual and the auditory—sensations generated by one stimulated the other and returned again. Through this exchange, music and clothing evolved into a more intimately integrated expression.
Copyright © ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
Choreographer and dancer Tess Voelker choreographed and staged the presentation. As models and performers move, the clothes expand, sway, and bounce. Figure of Ma cannot fully reveal itself when clothing is viewed in isolation. There is the body, cloth, air, movement, and sound. It is the relationships emerging between them that give the collection its form.
The idea of ma may evoke stillness or empty space. But the ma explored by ISSEY MIYAKE for Spring/Summer 2027 is far more dynamic.
It expands and contracts, sways and bounces, and seems to breathe. With every movement of the body, it continues to change, never settling into the same form.
And so there can be no single finished form for the clothes, either.
Copyright © ISSEY MIYAKE INC.
Beginning with a single piece of fabric, clothing comes to life when it encounters the body and welcomes air into the space between them. Each time the wearer walks, dances, or simply moves through everyday life, another form emerges. Perhaps Figure of Ma is not about giving a fixed shape to an invisible space, but about embracing the ever-changing forms that continue to arise between body and cloth.
Here, ISSEY MIYAKE’s longstanding way of thinking about clothing—not as a finished object, but as something that continues to transform with the wearer—finds a light, free expression for Spring/Summer 2027.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.Titled Figure of Ma, the collection was presented on October 2 at the Dojo de Paris, home of the French Judo Federation in Paris. It began with the simple act of playing with a large piece of fabric. Satoshi Kondo and the design team returned to something that precedes even the concept of “clothing,” exploring the fundamental form of ma that emerges through the interaction between body and cloth. What they found was not an empty space, but a generous realm of possibility that allows both body and clothing to become freer.
Ma Is Not an Empty Space
The ma that emerges between body and garment has no fixed form. Fabric sways as one walks and bounces as one dances. Filled with air, it expands; settling against the body, it traces new curves. Its form changes continuously with the movement of the wearer. The words that open the collection evoke fabric taking in air and beginning to “breathe,” capturing this sense of constant transformation.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.One expression of this idea is BALLOON TWIST. Inspired by the movement of a large piece of fabric undulating as it captures air, the series deliberately creates ma between body and garment through rounded volumes. Ball-shaped molds are inserted into the fabric, which is then twisted and bound by hand, producing delicate creases and sculptural forms that appear to hold air within them.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.In BILLOW, voluminous trousers constructed from a single piece of fabric create sweeping movements around the body. TEMPO PLEATS begins with a single rectangular piece of fabric: openings allow the body to pass through, transforming the flat plane naturally into a rounded three-dimensional form that holds air around the wearer.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.Rather than determining the shape of a garment first and fitting the body inside it, ISSEY MIYAKE allows form to emerge through the presence of the body, its movement, and the air held between body and cloth.
Clothes That “Breathe” with the Body
BALLOONING, a defining series of the season, makes this relationship even more explicit. Inspired by the form of a balloon expanding around the body, the garments are cut shorter in front and longer in back, drawing in air with every movement of the wearer. They inflate, sway, and return toward the body—as though the clothes themselves were breathing alongside the person wearing them.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.FLUIGLYPH, a seamless knit series depicting the fluid motion of water, similarly generates form through its relationship with the body rather than through a fixed silhouette. Yarns of different thicknesses, irregularly arranged garter stitches, transparency, and tactile ridges come together in a knit that stretches with the wearer, producing flowing organic curves.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.For BUBBLE (INK MARBLING), translucent film organza with a soap-bubble-like luster becomes a canvas for ink marbling. Artisans in Kyoto hand-paint each pattern by dripping pigment onto water, creating images inspired by balloons rising into the sky. No two are exactly alike. Combined with forms that shift as they fill with air, the technique gives another expression to the richness of never remaining entirely still.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.COCOON BODY Blurs the Boundary Between Body and Material
COCOON BODY approaches ma from another direction, questioning not only the distance between body and clothing but the boundary between the two.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.Created in collaboration between ISSEY MIYAKE and Wacoal Corp., the series adapts “Melooop,” Wacoal’s proprietary three-dimensional molding technology originally developed for applications including brassiere cups. Based on the melt-blown process, the technology has been developed for garment production by attaching a torso mold to a robotic arm, establishing a new methodology for clothes-making. Formed by spraying melted resin in a process reminiscent of a silkworm spinning its cocoon, the resulting object seems to exist somewhere between garment and body.
© ISSEY MIYAKE INC.What makes the process particularly compelling is that technology is not used to erase the presence of the human hand. In developing the original form, garments were draped and dampened on torso mannequins. The subtle sensibility of the maker embedded in those forms was then captured through 3D scanning and translated into the mold. Body and cloth, handcraft and technology—the boundaries between them cease to function as fixed lines.
What Emerges Between Music and Clothes-Making
In this collection, ma does not exist only between body and cloth. Kondo and the design team invited pianist Koki Nakano into the creative process, developing a dialogue in which music composition and clothes-making responded to one another around the idea of richness.
Copyright © ISSEY MIYAKE INC.Rather than simply placing two different creative disciplines side by side—making clothes and making music, the visual and the auditory—sensations generated by one stimulated the other and returned again. Through this exchange, music and clothing evolved into a more intimately integrated expression.
Copyright © ISSEY MIYAKE INC.Choreographer and dancer Tess Voelker choreographed and staged the presentation. As models and performers move, the clothes expand, sway, and bounce. Figure of Ma cannot fully reveal itself when clothing is viewed in isolation. There is the body, cloth, air, movement, and sound. It is the relationships emerging between them that give the collection its form.
Rather Than Fixing a Form, Embracing the Figure of Ma
The idea of ma may evoke stillness or empty space. But the ma explored by ISSEY MIYAKE for Spring/Summer 2027 is far more dynamic.
It expands and contracts, sways and bounces, and seems to breathe. With every movement of the body, it continues to change, never settling into the same form.
And so there can be no single finished form for the clothes, either.
Copyright © ISSEY MIYAKE INC.Beginning with a single piece of fabric, clothing comes to life when it encounters the body and welcomes air into the space between them. Each time the wearer walks, dances, or simply moves through everyday life, another form emerges. Perhaps Figure of Ma is not about giving a fixed shape to an invisible space, but about embracing the ever-changing forms that continue to arise between body and cloth.
Here, ISSEY MIYAKE’s longstanding way of thinking about clothing—not as a finished object, but as something that continues to transform with the wearer—finds a light, free expression for Spring/Summer 2027.
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