interview: ronan bouroullec and homme plissé issey miyake on their collaborative AW24 collection

Ronan Bouroullec & Homme Plissé Issey Miyake’s creative session

Unveiled during Paris Fashion Week Menswear Fall/Winter 2024 at the Palais de Tokyo, the HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE AW24 collection, named Immersed in the Wilds of Creativity, spotlighted the dynamic outcome of a collaborative creative session with French designer Ronan Bouroullec. Embracing Bouroullec’s representative body of work, titled Drawing, the collection diverges from merely presenting it as a portfolio to be admired as art. Instead, it takes the opportunity to fully integrate his creations into the garments, infusing them with the brand’s iconic pleat.

Bouroullec’s art serves as a pivotal element in shaping the design and creation of the collection, infusing it with vitality. The series explores the interplay between dress and design, transforming the original work’s white space into the very contours of the garments. Bouroullec’s vivid strokes find expression through translated elements—knitted fabrics, dynamic patterns, delicate embroidery, and organic silhouettes—enveloping the models’ bodies in the form of shirts, coats, scarves, and even cushions.

To find out more about the creative session between the team at HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE and Ronan Bouroullec, designbook spoke to the design team of the renowned fashion brand and the French designer himself. Read the interview in full below.

the HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE AW24 collection named Immersed in the Wilds of Creativity

interview with Ronan Bouroullec and the Homme Plissé Issey Miyake design team

designboom (DB): Can you share more about your relationship with the team at HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE? How did this collaborative creative session come about?

Ronan Bouroullec (RB): I have a very long relationship with Issey Miyake. When I was 16, there was a big exhibition of his work in Paris. It was the second time in my life that I had traveled to Paris, and I had the intention of seeing this very exhibition. Even when I was young, Issey Miyake was always an important figure in my life.

My first contact with the brand was almost 25 years ago, when the Issey Miyake team called me and asked me if I would be interested in designing a shop for them in Paris. I immediately declined because I am not an interior designer. But then, after a few days of thinking, I thought that Miyake had always been very important to me. So, together with my brother, we designed the A-POC (A Piece of Cloth) store in Paris.

A year and a half ago, I got a call from the team, who asked me if I would be interested in using my drawings for a new collection. I said no right away. In the last 10 years, I have had a lot of requests from different fashion companies that want to use my drawings, and I do not like the idea very much. However, after 10 minutes, I reconsidered the question because I just knew that the team at Issey Miyake is respectful. They are creative people who listen, and I know that the spirit of the company has stayed the same through the years. The team is comprised of gentle, simple people. So I thought that it might be a good idea to work with them.

the series transforms Bouroullec’s original work into wearable garments

DB: How did the brand’s design approach and creative process inspire this collection?

HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE (HPIM): The collection looks at the relationship between the source of inspiration and its realization, and what we explored was this notion of how we translate an idea into the design and making of clothing. There was something so poetic and vigorous that we found in Ronan’s drawings. The more we looked at them, the more we imagined how beautiful and captivating they would be if we could translate them into something lively and dynamic. And it is this nature and the richness that we find in his work that inspired us to work with the drawings in many creative ways, beyond just using them as motifs and patterns.

Bouroullec’s vivid strokes find expression through vibrant colors, dynamic patterns, delicate embroidery, and organic silhouettes

DB: What are the primary design elements of the collection? How were Ronan Bouroullec’s drawings translated into wearable forms, shapes, and colors?

HPIM: In the garment series, we integrate the drawings with our signature pleated fabric, for the synergy between the brush strokes and the pleats. One aspect of the collection plays with the idea of the white space of the canvas, while another embraces the idea of being enveloped in the drawings. There is a scarf series that transforms Ronan’s drawings into wearable art whose tubular construction allows the wearer to put the head and arms through. We also translated the drawings by representing them with silkscreen printing and embroidery, as a way to explore how to make the drawings more lively.

‘there was something so poetic and vigorous that we found in Ronan’s drawings,’ shares the HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE team

DB: Did you come across any exciting discoveries or challenges during the process?

RB: For this project, I met with the creative team every two or three months. Our first meeting in Paris was very interesting because it was almost as if they were too respectful of my work. They didn’t want to touch the drawings. Their approach was beautiful, but it was not enough for me. So, I told them that they didn’t need to be so respectful, in the sense that they had to dive into the drawings, touch them, feel the textures, and find the details that seemed interesting to them. Next, we did a lot of technical tests. I wanted the collection to reflect my work, which I think is full of volume, sensuality, and texture. It was important to me for the movement of the drawings to be mirrored in the movement of the garments and the body.

The collaboration was interesting because I saw that the team’s way of working was very similar to mine. It involved a lot of research and a lot of trials and testing. In the end, it was a question of balance. The process felt like cooking, where each element needed attention to avoid overdoing it.

the collection was unveiled during Paris Fashion Week at the Palais de Tokyo

DB: Ronan, you briefly mentioned that you don’t particularly like the idea of collaborating with fashion brands. Why was it different with HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE? What would it take for you to accept such an invitation from a fashion brand in the future?

RB: I think it was a matter of spirit. This spirit of research is so connected to Issey Miyake himself and is also now tied to the company. Issey Miyake has always been so closely related to design and architecture. He had a passionate approach and delivered sharp design in a very specific way. Also, the team includes humble people, which is not the usual type of person in the fashion world. Of course, there are probably other fashion companies with nice people who have a passion for research. But, in my life, I have worked in so many different fields, and I feel that in each field, there is always the best company to work with. I find myself very connected to Issey Miyake. If I have to work on a fashion project in the future, I hope, if possible, to do it again with the team at Issey Miyake.

the collection looks at the relationship between the source of inspiration and its realization