Issey Miyake is the quintessence of the postwar Japanese fashion miracle - a marriage of high technology, mass production, and the conservation of traditional values. Thanks to him, fashion was able to catch up with the tenets of modern industrial design. Miyake's great invention, his "pleats" in 1992, convinced Indian women to throw away their saris, Paris fashion types to dump their fitted suits, and Japanese ladies to abandon their own look in favor of a garment as comfortable as a track suit yet ten times lighter. As important a discovery for women as the t-shirt or jeans, Miyake's pleats can be thrown into a closet or laundry machine and keep their shape thanks to synthetic materials. The text and photography in this volume bring into full view Miyake's inimitable style and vision.