Issey Miyake's A-POC: A piece of cloth

Graphis, May/Jun 2001 by Lin, Vance

When Issey Miyake unveiled his new line of clothing in 1999, it expressed a visionary approach to fashion and how it could function in the modern world. The idea was simply, "To clothe the human body with a single piece of cloth" and to "create clothes that anyone could wear." But few designers could have managed such a feat: combining a novel concept, remarkable design, and the advanced materials to make it all possible. For Issey Miyake, his talent for all three came together under the new imprint, A-POC or A-Piece Of Cloth.

As the evolution of Issey's contemporary design, this latest offering carries more than simply the Miyake look and signature style that has come to define his previous work. The razor sharp geometries and future-forward aesthetic that helped make Pleats Please an overnight success remain secondary to A-POC's true secret. With his new line, the true genius lies in what one can and cannot see: the fabric.

It all begins as a "special" tube of cloth which is fed into a machine, much like a printing press. The device outlines and perforates the final shape of the clothing that is to be cut. As the tube of fabric emerges, one can discern in "Queen Blue" [pg. 119 & 1361 the embedded shape of a hat, a dress, underwear, bra, socks, gloves and even a purse. All it requires is a pair of scissors to free the garment from its web. But what makes A-POC such a remarkable concept, is that Miyake has deliberately placed that decision and the shears into the customer's hand.

The concept has its roots in Issey Miyake's Making Things exhibition, held at the Fondation Cartier pour fart contemporain in Paris, 1998. Miyake described the exhibit-in the book Making Things [Scalo]-as arising from the need in the 20th century to "recover the value of making [...] and so rediscover the pleasure of gesture." The exhibition's title also suggested that its audience was witnessing Miyake's work as "in progress" or "in the making." But more importantly, the associations evoked in the exhibit would soon be at the heart of A-POC's philosophy. The goal, Miyake explains, was to allow "those who wear my clothes to feel free to adapt them and recreate them in their own way."

During the exhibition, a project called "Just Before"was unfurled. It featured a continuous roll of dresses, connected head to toe-literally one to the other-that stretched the entire length of the room. Each of these dresses were made from a single roll of cloth and could be cut out from the rest. As a direct predecessor to A-POC, "Just Before" demonstrated the viability of clothing designed into and cut from a single piece of cloth-even the trimmed excess is designed as an accessory: a pair of gloves, hat, bag, etc. By incorporating the process of cutting into the final result, "Just Before" also addressed the relationship between clothing and consumer. With clothing cutto-order-for the customer, by the customer-it offered a real alternative to creating clothes in pre-determined styles, or constraining the wearer to a limited number of sizes.

The technical realization of Miyake's philosophy-of creating clothes from a single piece of cloth and customizable with a pair of shears-all hinged upon a highly secretive and patent-pending process. For A-POC to work, it would have to satisfy one fundamental requirement: not fray or unravel when cut. Another advance, which builds upon this material innovation, is that the final clothing requires no stitching at all. With previous clothing designs, one would cut the desired shapes out of cloth and sew them together into a garment, but with A-POC, this traditional method is reversed. Each style of A-POC is designed into the cloth, not from it. As the "special" tube of fabric emerges from the machine-press, the seams and outline are embedded within the clothing, ready to be freed.

When A-POC was first released, collectors purchased the long sheets of fabric as tapestries and hung them on their walls. But the basic idea is for the customer to cut along the lines of demarcation in order to free each article from the rest of the fabric. The special process allows the clothing to be cut anywhere without unravelling, so each piece can be endlessly modified with a quick trim. The beauty of A-POC's design is that if one was feeling particularly grumpy in the morning and wanted a V-neck, one could cut it in a V. If it was hot one day, off with the sleeves.

Indeed, for most of us accustomed to ready-to-wear clothing, it is bewildering to hear that a shirt or a dress can be trimmed at a whim. Even upon close inspection, the A-POC's finely knit pattern conceals its secrets. The natural texture reveals no hint of polymer or artificial fibers, and no fakery is evident to the naked eye. As far as anyone is concerned, A-POC appears to be nothing more complicated than the finest cotton or wool. How does the computer or the operators of this magical clothing press create clothing that emerges in one piece and can be cut without unravelling? It's anybody's guess, but for now, it remains a closely guarded secret.