Issey Miyake saw clothes in a completely new way

In 2016, an elderly woman sent Issey Miyake a sheet of washi paper. It had been hand-made by her in Shiraishi, in northern Japan, from the inner bark of the gampi tree or the paper mulberry bush. Once soaked in water and dried in the sun, the fibres were tougher than those of wood pulp. For a thousand years washi had been used for everyday clothes, toys and priests’ vestments; there had once been dozens of factories in Shiraishi. Now the only provider was this woman, who thought Japan’s most famous designer might like a sample for his archive. But he did not store it away. His first thought was, what can I make with this?, and his first act was to pin it into the rough shape of a kimono jacket. All clothing in ancient times had started like this, as a simple rectangle of woven stuff from a hand-loom. That simplicity remained the touchstone from which his ideas sprang.