#hellobaobao

As a fashion house, Issey Miyake is known for its design process, emphasizing craft and technique over fashion. Throughout the entirety of the Japanese designer’s legacy, the brand has championed the art of making and pioneered new technologies, including its signature pleating machine, which is on display at the Tokyo store. The brand’s use of innovative fabrics, sculptural forms, and color have elevated its designs to fashion icons, including the ready-to-wear PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE collection, the men’s ready-to-wear collection HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE, and our favorite, BAO BAO ISSEY MIYAKE. 

BAO BAO ISSEY MIYAKE has unveiled miniaturized versions of its popular Lucent and Rock series as part of a special #hellobaobao campaign to celebrate the bag’s ingenuity. The Bao Bao bag is a remarkable feat of engineering, renowned for its shield-like assemblage of polyvinyl triangles and three-dimensional form that resembles a geometric piece of furniture or an eccentric building. First introduced in 2000, Issey Miyake aptly dubbed it the Bao Bao as a homage to the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, whose cubist-like curved facade resembles the shape of the bag. The campaign plays up colors that reflect the seasons and the limited edition of the bags in “size playfulness,” about 1/4 of their original size. In the era of the mini bag, the #hellobaobao editions are proof that small things can make big statements. 

Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Silver, Black, Beige, and White