"Flying Saucer"

Designer Issey Miyake Japanese
Design House Miyake Design Studio Japanese
spring/summer 1994
Not on view
With the vocabulary of pleats that he introduced in 1990, Miyake has offered wholly new possibilities for dress. These almost weightless rolling discs can be compressed or extended; for packing, they can be flattened. These "Flying Saucer" dresses are both space age and as timeless as the paper lanterns of countless summer parties around the world. You can push and pull on the dress a good deal; it goes on over the head; it stays in motion as you move and/or as other things around you move. Miyake cherishes the ludic role of fashion, letting us play with our clothes.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: "Flying Saucer"
  • Designer: Issey Miyake (Japanese, 1938–2022)
  • Design House: Miyake Design Studio (Japanese, founded 1970)
  • Date: spring/summer 1994
  • Culture: Japanese
  • Medium: polyester
  • Credit Line: Gift of Issey Miyake, 1994
  • Object Number: 1994.603.1
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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