The most astounding of Issey Miyake's latest fashion statements isn't about ready-to-wear garments; it's about ready-to-wear fabric.
At A-poc Space in Tokyo's upmarket Minami Aoyama area, a team of nine, led by textile engineer and chief designer Dai Fujiwara, and overseen by Miyake, are experimenting with creating dresses, skirts, blouses, hats and bags with a difference -- they're all woven from a single thread.
In fact, A-poc is an acronym for a single piece of cloth. Here, at A-poc Space, what germinated as an idea in Miyake's head many years ago is now on display and for sale -- clothes produced by a revolutionary method that combines two separate processes -- weaving and tailoring -- into one.