Issey Miyake’s Homme Plissé Trousers & Shorts Are Here to Save Your Spring

By Graeme Campbell in Selects

Issey Miyake’s Homme Plissé sub-label launched in 2013 as the menswear sibling to the Japanese designer’s wildly successful Pleats Please women’s line. For those unaware, Pleats Please, established in 1993, is arguably Miyake’s most iconic creation, named after his innovative micro pleating, or plissé, technique. Miyake cuts a garment’s shape first and then pleats the finished form, in contrast to the conventional method of pleating the fabric and then cutting it to the design.

To call Homme Plissé clothing functional is to undersell it. Take the trousers, for instance. After grazing on a long haul flight or rocking up to a formal dinner (part of the beauty lies in their versatility), throw them in the washing machine and they’ll dry almost immediately after the cycle is finished. They require no ironing, so if you travel a lot, they can be crammed into a case without losing shape.

Homme Plissé trousers have always been popular but seem to have really taken off over the past 12 months (I’ve actually noticed an uptick in dudes wearing Pleats Please trousers, too). Now that it’s spring, Homme Plissé’s the flowy, 100-percent polyester silhouettes are perfect for days when it’s warm but not quite shorts weather. And on hot summer days, they can be scrunched up in a tote for a change of clothes when the temperature drops, as you move from picnic in the park to nighttime beer garden.

But if you want the best of both worlds, a selection of Homme Plissé shorts have also hit the market. They’re a little daring, but if it’s comfort in the office you’re looking for on blistering days, we imagine these are the next best thing to lounging around in your underwear — which, let’s face it, no one wants to see.

Check out the latest selection of Homme Plissé trousers and shorts available at SSENSE below.