What’s Happening: Issey Miyake is releasing a capsule collection on the 30th anniversary of Pleats Please, whose comfortable, fluid fabrics have endured as a go-to for the stylish fashion cognoscenti while also attracting Gen Z-ers seeking luxe loungewear.

The Download: In 1988, Issey Miyake’s career reached a zenith. The barrier-breaking couturier was one of the first Japanese designers to show in Paris, shortly after launching the Miyake Design Studio in 1970 following stints working for Hubert de Givenchy and Guy Laroche. Unmoved by his rapid rise to fame, Miyake remained steadfast that clothing was a form of art—an unmistakably avant-garde perspective for the ‘80s, but one that landed his designs on a 1982 cover of Artforum and earned his eponymous house consistent praise. After the Musée des Arts Decoratifs staged a retrospective of his prodigious ready-to-wear in 1988, he believed he accomplished everything he could.

That was until he stumbled upon a folded scarf in his studio. His longtime textile designer, Makiko Minagawa, heat-pleated the cloth as an experiment with new materials. Miyake was captivated by its intricate, three-dimensional texture and sought to recreate a comfortable, breathable, and easily movable textile, jumpstarting four years of research that culminated in what would become his label’s signature technique. Polyester fabric is cut and sewn at three times its intended size and heat-pleated, creating accordion folds that retain their shape and resist wrinkles even after being tossed in the washing machine or scrunched up in a suitcase.

To test the fabric, Miyake designed costumes equipped with tricot folds for a performance of William Forsythe’s Frankfurt Ballet in 1991. His experiments were a success—the fluidity of the fabric complemented the dancers’ movement and even inspired Miyake to incorporate choreography in his runway shows. Two years later, Pleats Please hit the market and quickly became a hit among the fashion cognoscenti seeking stylish yet unfussy garments. Zaha Hadid was a fan; Suzy Menkes wore the pieces front row.

As Pleats Please gears up to celebrate its 30th anniversary this month, the label has earned a dedicated following among Millennials and Gen Z-ers who sought out comfortable, well-made loungewear during the pandemic. Searches for the brand skyrocketed 457 percent on the popular resale site Depop from early 2020 until Miyake’s death in August.

The label plans to release a capsule collection of separates in both chic monochrome and vivid, abstract prints of clashing colors on May 4. Nodding to the label’s origins, the capsule campaign features models pirouetting through a series of garments, creating a de facto symphony with fluid ease—because Pleats Please always looks best in motion.

In Their Own Words: “The core spirit of Pleats Please is joy,” Miyake once said. “And what better emotion to wear on your skin every day?”

Surface Says: Something tells us this rare sartorial alliance between generations might not last.

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here.

Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.

“I’ve always believed in the power and pleasure of sitting quietly, deeply,” Cassandra Ellis, the founder of English paint purveyor Atelier Ellis, tells Surface. “We’ve stopped giving time and real thought to how we want to live and what we want to live with.” That explains why Ellis moved her five-year-old brand into a tranquil townhouse on Bath’s artisan-friendly Walcot Street, where customers envision how the atelier’s 90-shade roster of breathable, handmade paints can bathe the walls of their own home. “I want them to feel at the center,” Ellis says, “that we’re gently wrapping them and encouraging them to take their freedom.”

That journey begins on the ground floor, where guests enter a storefront displaying the full Atelier Ellis palette. Artisans mix paints on request in two adjoining spaces, whose walls will be reimagined with each solstice. Other rooms across four floors are reserved as studios and workshops where Ellis will host one-to-one color consultations. Throughout, artisan furniture intermingles with quiet, one-of-a-kind objects that afford people space to “stop and think about the importance of home.” They include antique Noren curtains, ancient Tansu cabinets, gilded Italian desks, and an abundance of fresh flowers foraged from the countryside.

The atmosphere is both worldly and deeply domestic, a balance Ellis attains in her palette and the townhouse’s seasonal exhibitions celebrating craft in all forms. Kicking things off are peaceful photographs by New Zealand’s Jessica MacCormick that celebrate the process of flowering; they join a showcase of 50 one-of-a-kind drinking mugs by Sheffield makers Pottery West. Nine new shades Ellis conceived as a poetic tribute to the rhythms of Bath lend a cocooning ambience. “People need space, shadows, art, and inspiration to find out how they’d like to live,” Ellis says. “Colors help them tell that story.”

It’s fitting that art gallery Prince & Wooster, one of the latest additions to SoHo’s historic gallery district, has set up shop in Dia Art Foundation’s landmark Earth Room building. The notion of looking back to contextualize the present is pervasive in the space, where works by Cy Twombly, Keith Haring, Salvador Dalí, and more from founder Leo Rogath’s private collection are paired with new works from upstart contemporary painters.

Rogath cut his teeth as a client advisor specializing in postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s before facilitating donations to Tate, the Whitney, and ICA Miami. He soon came to a realization: “The ability to see contemporary artists and their predecessors in one space is the most raw and authentic way to pull connections and further the historical canon,” he says, admitting that such a curatorial perspective is often missing outside of museums. Catch the gallery’s latest show on May 13, with an exhibition of paintings by rising star Emily Ferguson.

From her studio in Houston, Joyce Lin has been considering humanity’s impact on our physical surroundings. Her ruminations have manifested in a series of memorable chairs now on view at R & Company in New York that, with humorous flair, delve into the tension of outer surfaces and interior structures. By injecting wood with resins and encasing tree branches behind acrylic vitrines, the up-and-coming designer captures both a material “limbo state” and a looming sense of anxiety as the boundaries between nature and artifice erode.

Topical Cream held its 10th Anniversary Gala at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in New York to celebrate artist Camille Henrot. The arts organization founded by Lyndsy Welgos staged a silent auction of works by Henrot, Lena Henke, Michele Abeles, Nicole Eisenman, Raque Ford, Jade Lai, and more in support of its mission to support women and gender non-conforming artists. Guests then nibbled on Oishii Strawberries, enjoyed a dinner led with a food curation by Jen Monroe of Bad Taste, and sipped drinks by Zev Rovine Wine before dancing at an afterparty hosted by Venus X.

When was it? April 19

Where was it? The Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York

Who was there? Dese Escobar, Juliana Huxtable, Adam Charlap, Cajsa von Zeipel, Mauro Hertig, Eri Wakiyama, and more.

When: April 27–June 10

Where: Nunu Fine Art, New York

What: After making its mark on Taipei’s burgeoning contemporary art scene, the pioneering gallery Nunu makes its New York City debut with multimedia works by Ariamna Contino and Alex Hernández-Dueñas, the two artists who represented Cuba at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Highlights include three new multimedia series in which the artists use a combination of collaborative drawings and site-specific installations to present with urgency issues of geopolitics and environmental ethics.

Hip hop is having a museum moment. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the genre’s birth in New York City, local institutions like the Museum at FIT, the Brooklyn Museum, and Fotografiska have all showcased how hip hop has shaped key parts of American culture as we know it today.

Where those shows offered a targeted analysis of the music and its creators’ influence on photography (Fotografiska) or carceral reform advocacy (the Brooklyn Museum), “Hip Hop and Contemporary Art” takes a wide-angle approach. The joint exhibition between the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum looks beyond fine art to fashion, technology, and music both internationally and in the U.S.

Duplex is a New York–based design boutique engaged with the world’s most iconic design brands, groundbreaking talents, and master artisans, all of whom offer a surrealistic take on form and function. Its founder, Patrizio Chiarparini, brings a curatorial approach to Duplex’s roster with the goal of providing clients with a sophisticated, unexpected range of pieces.

Surface Says: Chiarparini goes the extra mile—literally—to offer one-of-a-kind design objects and exhibitions, making Duplex an international destination for those lucky enough to be in the know.

Archaeologists uncover an 1,800-year-old ritual cedar mask in Osaka Prefecture.

Jasmin Attia is reconnecting with her Egyptian heritage through cuisine.

The internet of the 2010s ended with the shuttering of Buzzfeed News.

Thanks to Twitter Blue, the once-coveted blue check has become uncool.