Steve Jobs Wore Issey Miyake. Now, Your iPhone Can, Too
Issey Miyake is basically the Apple of fashion. Not just because the Japanese designer was the man behind Steve Jobs’ signature turtleneck but because Miyake’s eponymous label is restlessly inventive, perpetually pushing the boundaries of fashion convention.
So, a proper Apple and Issey Miyake collaboration is quite overdue.
For Apple, Issey Miyake has created a long rectangular strip of knitted fabric that opens in the middle to form a carrying strap and a little iPhone-sized pouch.
The suitably titled “iPhone Pocket” is straightforward in form but subtly advanced, each variation created through 3D knitting technology that eliminates the need for traditional cutting or sewing.
“The simplicity of its design echoes what we practice at Issey Miyake — the idea of leaving things less defined to allow for possibilities and personal interpretation,” said Yoshiyuki Miyamae, design director of MIYAKE DESIGN STUDIO, the Miyake imprint that oversaw the collaborative project.
The bags are cute and useful, not unlike Issey Miyake signature HOMME PLISSÉ and Pleats Please lines, where inorganic materials are heat-pressed to create permanent pleats that give the garments their shape.
But Miyake was experimenting with similar techniques as early as 1998 through its A Piece of Cloth line, long before 3D-printed wearables were realistic concepts. The brand’s late founder developed computer-operated machines that mass-produced clothing spun from specialized machines. Then, when 3D-printing became a viable form of production, Miyake began experimenting with its newfangled possibilities, yielding innovations like its recent “GRIT” sunglasses, 3D-printed from castor oil resin. The beauty is that, from afar, these ingenious glasses look like ordinary shades.
This approachability through the lens of newness is quintessential Miyake and quintessential Apple, too. After all, it was Issey Miyake who stocked Jobs’ wardrobe with dozens of identical black turtlenecks. Now, iPhones can get dressed in Issey Miyake, too.
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