At Issey Miyake, Satoshi Kondo Designs for the Space Between Body and Fabric

ISSEY MIYAKE’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, “Being Garments, Being Sentient,” was presented last October at the Centre Pompidou. A simple question opened its collection notes: “What if garments are conscious?” The query prompted Satoshi Kondo, the designer of ISSEY MIYAKE’s women’s collections, to think of the preconceptions and conventions of garments and draw inspiration from the absent, the unexpected, and the unknown. 

This type of search—questioning what a textile could be and inventing an answer—has been central to the brand’s DNA since its inception, although Kondo’s longtime relationship with the company and his ongoing push for joy, freedom, and identity shape the collections we wear. Whitewall spoke with Satoshi Kondo to hear what current, philosophical, and futuristic elements inspire him to imagine garments for today.

Why Original Textiles Matter

WHITEWALL: You’ve worked at ISSEY MIYAKE for many years—across Pleats Please, Homme Plissé, and now the main women’s line. What have these different categories taught you about the possibilities, or limits, of textile engineering? 

SATOSHI KONDO: I came to realize that one of the keys to making original clothing is making original textiles. And creating original textiles is not just about employing the latest technologies; to me, the idea of how to orchestrate what already exists—and what is found—in a creative way is as important as technology, if not more so.

Making textiles is one of the first steps in the course of creating a collection, and qualities such as texture and color play an important role in defining the mood. At this early stage, I always try to bear in mind that the textiles we make should have the potential to allow us to explore new clothing designs, rather than limiting us. For this reason, when we create textiles, we try to be experimental and treat the process itself as an exploration. This way, the resulting textiles often inspire new designs and ideas. On the other hand, if the result seems undesirable, we don’t see it as a failure, but rather a lesson from which we learn and continue our exploration. Whether working with new technologies or new fibers, the key is to keep our minds open and fluid, accepting whatever the result may be and continuing to develop.

“The textiles we make should have the potential to allow us to explore new clothing designs, rather than limiting us,”

Satoshi Kondo

WW: Issey Miyake pioneered techniques like A-POC and pleating that reframe how we think about fabric and construction. How do you balance honoring those innovations with pushing the language of the house forward? 

SK: What you mentioned here is an example of how, as a house, we not only make original clothing but also create the original technologies that make the clothing possible. The A-POC system and the garment pleating technology are tools—methodologies—invented to make clothing with great potential that is yet to be explored, depending on how we use them. I don’t feel the need to balance these innovations with the language of the house. Rather, they were developed from, and are part of, the house. It is simply a matter of how we as designers—trained under Miyake and immersed in the house’s language—use these tools to create clothing that reflects the time we live in.

Satoshi Kondo on Expressing Joy and Freedom Through Clothing

WW: You’ve spoken about expressing “joy” and freedom through clothing. How do you translate that emotional quality into shapes, materials, and movement? 

SK: Both joy and freedom are abstract qualities that can be expressed or felt through clothing, as well as the act of wearing. In my practice at ISSEY MIYAKE women’s line, both are conveyed through the presence of ma—the unfilled space between a garment and the wearer’s body. I don’t design ma itself; I design everything around it—shape, material, and movement—to allow it to take form.

“There is a sense of beauty that only movement can bring about,”

Satoshi Kondo

WW: The brand’s Paris shows often feel like performances, with dancers, choreography, and interaction woven into the experience. What role does movement play in your collections? The definition of clothing, beyond a silhouette? 

SK: I believe that there is a sense of beauty that only movement can bring about. When I design clothing, I tend to think that I am designing the clothing together with the air that surrounds it. The presence of a garment—as it moves along with its wearer—can interact and affect its surroundings, creating a space where sensations like joy can happen.

The Relationship Between Body and Garment

WW: From pieces that grow, multiply, or rearrange themselves to silhouettes that challenge inside and outside, the clothes in Spring/Summer 2026 seemed alive. How are you imagining clothing as a collaborator, rather than just an object? How does that shift the relationship between body and garment? 

SK: I see this collection as an exploration into the relationship between the wearer’s body and the garment. During the creative process, we asked ourselves questions inspired by the concept of “garments being sentient”, which allowed us to think more freely—outside of conventions—and develop various series, each an interpretation of the concept. By presenting this collection on the runway, what I wanted to convey went beyond posing a speculative concept. It was the notion that the relationship between the wearer’s body and the garment can be more fluid, and that there should be more freedom in wearing, unbound by rules or conventions.

WW: Sustainability and material recycling are becoming non-negotiables in fashion. How is your studio thinking about ecological responsibility in both design and production? 

SK: There is an idea of “make no excess” behind Miyake’s philosophy of a piece of cloth. Today, the house still practices this philosophy, finding creative ways in the process of design and making to produce less or no excess fabric, in addition to our engagement in the research and development of sustainable materials.

The fact that we make original textiles means that we tend to work with our partnering manufacturers—with which we have long, established relationships—throughout the entire process. This often starts as early as selecting fibers to make yarn of specific blends, to steps such as developing specific weave structures to achieve desired qualities. There is nothing inherently spectacular about this approach, but being present throughout—and aware of the flow—allows us to be more attentive to the process and more responsible in every decision we make, reflecting the creative and current social contexts. 

WW: You’ve said that seeing a piece of cloth transform through movement, posture, and gesture is central to your design process. How does that philosophy influence how you stage your shows and presentations? 

SK: When it comes to shows and presentations, while the expression of an idea can vary from season to season, what I always think about is how (and in what ways) the clothing looks the most beautiful. On top of that, I always bear in mind that fabric itself is nothing heavy at all, and therefore the resulting clothing should convey the same level of lightness and fluidity, if not more.

Satoshi Kondo on Designing Through the Lens of Ma

WW: How did your upbringing—in Kyoto, with a mother who was a sewing teacher, inspired by the Japanese philosophy of ma—impact your idea of what was possible within this career? 

SK: Being born in Japan and raised in Japanese culture, I deeply relate to the concept of ma, which is not just an aesthetic, but something founded upon the approach of subtraction rather than addition. However, it was Miyake who worked with ma to integrate it into clothes-making and from whom I learned how to practice the concept—the idea of making a design by drawing one fewer line. Ma—the unfilled space in between—is to me not only relevant to Miyake’s philosophy, but also part of the identity of the East, and something primitive.

“Ma, which is not just an aesthetic, but something founded upon the approach of subtraction rather than addition,”

-Satoshi Kondo.

WW: What have you been enjoying wearing lately? 

SK: I like to wear something made from natural fibers. Recently, I have been wearing a cotton shirt by HaaT, made in India.