On a 16 February, Pleats Please Issey Miyake began selling in Singapore a box of fabric “sushi” that was really a set of accessories in disguise. Priced at S$70 and limited to 60 sets in the country, it was sold at the label’s boutique at Forum The Shopping Mall. It was the kind of novelty that Singapore’s Bao Bao devotees could add to a collection.
The pieces looked like a sushi bento set, with nigiri and maki rolled from the brand’s permanently pleated polyester. Each one opened out into something useful.
What was in the box
The Singapore set worked on a simple principle: the sushi was a way of folding the pleats, not just a decoration. According to the brand’s launch details at the time, the tuna and egg nigiri pieces opened into a small purse. The salmon roe and sea urchin maki became a drawstring bag. The tuna and cucumber rolls unfurled into a pleated accessory band.
That made the set a small puzzle as well as a gift. Pleated fabric compresses flat and springs back, which suits a bag that disappears into a roll. It is the same quality that made the line popular with commuters and travellers.
Where the idea came from
The set looked back to a 2008 Pleats Please campaign that turned garments into sushi. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Library credits the art director Taku Satoh with that first of the brand’s food campaigns. Satoh’s reasoning, as the museum records it, was that “All the keywords of Pleats Please also apply to sushi, Japan’s first ‘fast food.'” His list included easy, shrinkable, portable, playful, diverse and colourful.
The Taku Satoh Design Office created the images. A later campaign in the same spirit, for the line’s 20th anniversary, moved on to other foods, including ice cream and toast. These were shot by the photographer Yasuaki Yoshinaga and designed by Shingo Noma, according to Trend Hunter. Pleats Please itself first appeared in 1993.
A later keepsake
The sushi idea came back in 2015, for the company’s 45th anniversary. The Miyake Design Studio made a boxed “sushi” keepsake, as the Met describes it, meant to echo the Japanese custom of eating sushi to celebrate. The box carried the word “sushi” in traditional calligraphy. When the lid lifted, it showed colourful fabric pieces.
Those pieces had their own transformations. The “shrimp” and “maguro” unfolded into tabi socks. The “tamago” opened into a small pouch for tissue paper. The “uni” became a tiny pochette. The Met notes that this version was not for sale, though a rectangular one was sold in limited quantities at Pleats Please stores.
The Singapore set’s pieces were different, with a purse, a drawstring bag and a band. But it belonged to the same tradition of designing the object to be played with.
What to look for today
The Singapore release was a limited run with a short window, and its 2008 inspiration was an advertising idea, not a product line. Current stock and the boutique’s present status could not be confirmed. Anyone hoping to find the set should check with the Pleats Please Issey Miyake boutique or the brand’s official channels.
The Met’s account of the 2015 box shows that the sushi concept has resurfaced as a keepsake over the years. It is one of the label’s most recognisable playful ideas.