Issey Miyake's plastic bustier, molded on a human form and made in cooperation with a mannequin manufacturer, is a brilliant if unexpected result of the Japanese designer's ongoing exploration of the relationship between clothing and the body. Since his first Paris show in 1973, Miyake has transcended his training in Western couture to redefine the concept of wearing clothes. His designs are neither Eastern nor Western, instead uniting the traditional Japanese emphasis on materials with modern industrial technology to create original body coverings. This bustier reflects Miyake's philosophy that clothing should fuse with the personality of the wearer to become part of the body; while his draped and wrapped fashions acquire their shape when worn, the preformed bustier becomes a new layer of skin. A centerpiece of Miyake's Bodyworks" exhibition shown internationally in 1983-85, this bold red bustier, with its reflective surface and sinuous curves, can also be appreciated as a sculpture with its own form and function. H. Kristina Haugland, from Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p. 102.