Growth Mindset

A preview of RHIZOME, the new ISSEY MIYAKE collection.

Most plants begin life the same way: a small and featureless seed is dropped into the earth, offering few clues as to its future form. But the life that grows from these anonymous origins is extraordinarily varied. With minimal human intervention, vegetables, plants, trees and flowers will grow in countless odd, original shapes or bloom in an endless variety of vivid colors.

This organic beauty is reflected in RHIZOME, one of the series in the fall-winter 2022 collection Sow It and Let It Grow by ISSEY MIYAKE. Designed by Satoshi Kondo, the collection takes its name from one of nature’s most unpredictable invisible forces. Rhizomes are bulbous underground stem systems, found in plants including ginger and turmeric, which expand through the earth and sprout new shoots that appear like individual plants. Kondo’s knitwear collection trades on this same unpredictable spirit. The long flowing panels of yarn can be tied or draped in various directions and the arms and head of the wearer can be put through multiple holes in the garment.

For humans, for whom movement and growth are governed by the invisible but strict rules of society, there could only be one way for ISSEY MIYAKE to express the freedom of RHIZOME: through the art of dance. To celebrate this original collection, the British photographer and filmmaker Marcus Tomlinson has produced a dance and movement video set in a field bordered by woodland—a location that encapsulates both the harmonious and the freeform elements of the collection.

This post was produced in partnership with ISSEY MIYAKE. Rhizome launches on November 1.