I am a sucker for a good fashion show, but this one ditched the runway in favor of something much more spectacular. While the ISSEY MIYAKE Spring Summer 2020 show purports to be a fashion show, it feels much more like a dance performance or maybe performance art. The choreography is at times unstructured and at other times clearly minutely planned. It’s performed by models (many whom are also dancers) who waft and jump and spin and even fly around, beautifully showing off the movement of the (often bizarre) clothes.

The very interesting music is performed live by French singer/electronic musician DeLaurentis. It runs the gamut from abstract, bliss-out music that reminds me of Enya to a vocal version of Ravel’s Bolero.

For the show, ISSEY MIYAKE’s new design director Satoshi Kondo created a line that’s equal parts high-end loungewear and unwearable silliness, but somehow it all works, at least in the context of this performance. At least it all looks very comfortable! And very, very Japanese.

“I wanted to express the joy of wearing clothes and the joy of movement. So you see the models dancing, almost like in the wind, moving together.”

– Satoshi Kondo

As entertained as I was by the fashion and the theatrics, I was most struck by how much fun the models seemed to be having. Their face-splitting grins at the finale were clearly genuine. As much as I love avant garde fashion shows, it’s a real joy to see young people getting to behave like young people!

You can see all of ISSEY MIYAKE’s amazing products on the brand’s website and on Instagram and Facebook.

I tried to find the video on a platform other than Facebook, but I wasn’t successful. If you don’t have Facebook, most of the show can be seen in the Instagram posts below.

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I begin with a line acapella from Shakespeare « Life, it is a tale.. » from my upcoming album and I continue with my electronic variation on the famous Boléro from the EP « Classical Variations Vol.I ». Such an honor to compose and perform the music of this incredible show !

A post shared by DeLaurentis (@delaurentis.music) on Oct 2, 2019 at 12:26am PDT

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This is an other extract video from my live performance for the last @isseymiyakeusa ’s Show Spring/Summer Collection 2020 ! Well done to the skaters girl, the dancers and the models, you’re killing it! And the music is from my last EP "Big Part Of A Big Sun" 🙂 Spotify Link : https://spoti.fi/2MrszVr Such an honour to compose and perform the music with my @ableton push of this incredible show designed by #satoshikondo and directed by #DanielEzralow at the @104paris ! #isseymiyake2020 Thanks to all the Issey Miyake's team and Sound Division, Paris / Thibault Deboaisne for having me ❤ – – – – #fashionweek #parisfashionweek #ss20 #isseymiyake #satishikondo #danielezralow #abletonpush #abletonpeermusic #isseymiyake2020 #delaurentis #delaurentismusic #musicianlife #femaleproducer #liveperformance #electroclassical #couture #designer #ss2020collection #abigpartofabigsun

A post shared by DeLaurentis (@delaurentis.music) on Oct 10, 2019 at 2:21am PDT