Issey Miyake’s runway presentations are marked by a sense of harmony. They’re poetic, sonic, inspired by the natural—artistic more so than purely demonstrative. Friday’s show at the Théâtre du Châtelet, The Square and Beyond, was no exception. Drawing from creative mediums built upon perfect geometry—visual art through the canvas, music through the score, fashion through a swath of fabric—Fall/Winter 2023-2024 builds upon the so-called “rational shape,” teasing out endless potential from a place of limitation.

This sort of exploration is well-suited to the Japanese label, whose signature pleats have always relied on careful mathematics. Upon the stage of the opera house, models followed a runway demarcated by spotlights, which met in the center to illuminate a percussion ensemble, Trio SR9. Artistic Director Satoshi Kondo debuted a handful of sub-series, each displaying a novel construction: CANOPY, for instance, angled outwards, forming diamond-shaped jumpsuits and trousers; COUNTERPOINT comprised of seamless gowns and headpieces, warped into irregular forms through the simultaneous employ of disparate knitting techniques.

Reads a statement from the label: “The collection… [introduces] an unconventional aesthetic based on a new iteration of ma (the unfilled space) between the wear and the wearer.” In other words, Issey Miyake generates a unique relationship between the body, and what it dons—not re-shaping or obscuring, but reinventing it entirely.