Inspired by the 20th-century ceramic artist Shoji Kamoda, Issey Miyake Men presented a playful collection. Kamoda, famous for pushing the boundaries of tradition in his medium, often introducing unexpected forms and finishes, is the perfect ally to a brand that so often does the same within the fashion industry. Spring/Summer 2026 was as clear a testament to that ethos as any other Issey Miyake show. Before the models even emerged, dancers wearing Kamoda-inspired patterns waved around bolts of similarly adorned fabric, the stage already alive with movement and transformation.
As the dancers settled in front of a backdrop of aligned patterned sheets, the first look stepped onto the runway. A hint of what was to come, it embraced the amorphous, layering a poncho-like head covering over a matching top and bottoms. It was silhouette as gesture, textile as sculpture. Textured looks soon disrupted the sea of motifs, creating quiet ripples in the form of waved, neutral sleeveless tops.
The collection was light but not in the escapist way most of this season’s offerings have leaned. If the prevailing theme of Spring/Summer 2026 is a kind of fashionable avoidance—a wardrobe designed for summer vacations from reality—IM Men offers something different. This wasn’t about escape. It was about response. Here, lightness isn’t an absence of weight, but a recalibration of it.
Words by Pedro Vasconcelos
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