Craft(15 OCTOBER)
Paper Into Lacquer
Issey Miyake's Urushi Body starts as hand-torn Echizen washi on a 3D-printed mould. Kyoto lacquer turns the paper into a rigid shell.
- Published
- Read
- 2 min
- Nº
- 08
- Format
- How It's Made
Look at the torso first. A hard, glossy shell sits where soft cloth usually goes. It is strapless, flared at the hip, and it catches the light like glazed ceramic. Issey Miyake calls the series Urushi Body. It is a bustier or a corset, and the house describes it as a modern take on the kimono sash, the obi: a rigid form you put on to frame the body.
The detail
Whole look, then closer
- 01Urushi Body in dark red. A rigid shell over black.
- 02The black corset as an object. ISSEY MIYAKE printed on the side.
- 03Closer. Gloss over a fine grain: lacquer on washi.
Photos: courtesy Issey Miyake
According to the house, craftspeople in the Echizen region of Fukui Prefecture tear large sheets of handmade washi by hand. They layer the paper with glue onto 3D-printed moulds until a three-dimensional shell forms. The shells then go to Kyoto, where other craftspeople brush on multiple coats of urushi lacquer. The warm paper becomes a solid object with a gentle gloss.
The collection notes name the glue as natural toromo glue. Styles are a bustier and a corset, in dark red, black, dark blue and white. Quantities are limited, and the pieces are sold in-store only.
The connection
On the body, and in Kyoto
- 04Look 29. Black Urushi Body over CALLIGRAPH purple wool.
- 05Kyoto KURA exhibition. Process film beside a red shell.
- 06ISSEY MIYAKE KYOTO. The kura that held the show.
Photos: courtesy Issey Miyake
The house’s own Kyoto exhibition text links Urushi Body to BODYWORKS, the 1980s pieces Issey Miyake made when he left cloth behind for plastic, paper and wire, and cast the body itself. When matter wraps the torso, the body speaks more clearly, not less. Urushi Body continues that research with two Japanese crafts, Echizen washi and Kyoto lacquer, and one industrial tool: the 3D-printed mould.
Look 29 of Autumn Winter 2026/27 puts the black shell over CALLIGRAPH, a draped wool piece cut as one continuous curve. Hard shell, soft drape. That contrast is the point.
Why now
Most “tech” fashion borrows a machine and stops there. This one uses the machine only to hold the shape, then hands the object to people who still tear paper and brush lacquer. The result teaches what fashion can hold: a regional craft, a historical idea of dressing, and a surface you can only get by waiting for coats of lacquer to cure.
The next time you see a hard glossy shell on a runway, ask what it started as. If it started as paper, you are looking at a making story, not just a silhouette.
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