Issey Miyake transforms the Cartier Foundation into living sculpture garden with light and movement

By Thomas Adamson

As Paris wilted under the ruthless June sun, Issey Miyake sent out a battalion of intergalactic fashion soldiers at the Cartier Foundation Thursday, shimmering between art and menswear apparel in a spectacle where even the light was a player.

The late-morning sun bounced sharply off the art museum’s monumental steel pillars, forcing some guests to slide their seats to escape the dazzling reflections — an impromptu game of musical chairs set to a pulsing, kinetic soundtrack.

This Paris Fashion Week season finds the Miyake house in the midst of transition. In January, Paris bid adieu to Homme Plissé — Miyake’s pleated cult favorite that had anchored the city’s menswear calendar since 2019 — as the brand shifted its focus to nomadic shows, most recently appearing under the Tuscan sun. The torch in Paris has now been passed to IM Men, the last line personally conceived by Issey Miyake before his death