A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE Translates Art to Wearable Textiles

A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE, in collaboration with artist Tomokazu Matsuyama, has launched the TYPE-XII project, a collection of seven coats and seven T-shirts that translate Matsuyama's paintings into wearable textiles. This initiative redefines the garment creation process by prioritizing fabric as the primary medium for artistic translation, beginning with textile development rather than pattern cutting. Designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae worked with Matsuyama to interpret the artist's layered visual language onto cloth.

The project draws inspiration from two specific paintings by Matsuyama. "By And By Daylight," a 2023 mixed-media work measuring 120 by 100 inches, served as a foundational piece. Additionally, "The True Oasis Erase," a 2025 artwork created using a complex array of techniques including ink, acrylic, collagraph, relief, engraving, jigsaw, pochoir, and collage with hand finishing, measuring 49 1/2 by 43 1/2 inches, provided intricate source material. The multi-technique approach of "The True Oasis Erase" presented a particularly complex challenge for interpretation onto fabric.

The resulting collection features coats designed with two distinct compositional approaches. Some garments fully encompass a single Matsuyama painting, wrapping the wearer in the complete pictorial field of the original artwork. Other pieces integrate elements from multiple paintings, creating new visual dialogues and hybrid compositions that exist exclusively in wearable form. This latter strategy utilizes the garment as a curatorial tool, remixing Matsuyama's existing body of work into novel arrangements.