A Pleated Countenance
One day, I woke up in a permanent fold, a mental fold. Oscillating from this option to that, I wondered, for example, “do I choose a skirt or pants? Do I eat oatmeal, eggs, or nothing at all?” I met even the easiest notions of dressing and eating with indecision. And my mind, in all respects, resembled a fabric pleat. A pleat, by definition, is a permanent fold ironed into place.
The cerebral fold became ironed further into place throughout the course of the day. Its deep crease split every decision into two: "On the train, should I bring the volume of short essays or the thriller? Should I store the tomato separately from the entire sandwich or risk sogginess? The flat way of wearing the sandal, or the heeled sandal?”
I desperately needed the discipline of a straight line, but in the belief that clothing can be a physical manifestation of even the slightest mental upheavals, I turned towards Issey Miyake to externalize my mind, to turn my mind inside out: “Pleats Please!” I thought.
Pleats Please is a division of the Issey Miyake clothing brand introduced in 1989 as a line of micro-pleated dresses, jackets, tops, pants, coats, and was ready for full seasonal production in 1993. The pleated material is polyester. Pleats Please clothing never wrinkles; it follows one of the tenants of Issey Miyake products, that it be durable to the wearer.
Pleats Please is transparent and draped, at one moment shapeless, but also gravitates towards shape – the body’s shape – in order to grasp onto a contour. Pleats are meant for various body types. The loose-fitting polyester hangs onto full and slight frames, catching the figure at its most voluminous moment.
All Pleats Please garments to be found in INA Soho.
A New Crop
Crop tops. Crop tops on girls, ruffled and suede, gathered in the waist by drawstring. A top cut short. Baby doll, empire-waisted crop tops. Sheer, hit-above-the-belt crop tops.
Embroidered, Indian crop jackets. Jackets bordered by the high-waisted denim short. Cropped sweaters clasped by hook-and-eye closure. Fringed, cropped leather vests worn over cotton long-sleeved t-shirts. In the summer, in the spring too.
Knitted, cap-sleeved cropped cardigans. Worn over nothing. Or, worn over anything. Baring-midriff crop tops, and also, crop tops that stop tastefully short. Fitted crop tops and loose ones. Embellished ones with transparent zebra stripe panelling.
All INA Nolita, from left to right, clockwise: Vintage beaded Indian jacket; Torn fringe black leather vest; Prada camel suede cinched blouse; Ports crochet gray cardigan; Linda Dressner transparent, pale yellow chiffon blouse; Yigal Azrouel black, printed silk cardigan; Givenchy ruffle-bottomed cotton top.
