Issey Miyake: Pleats Please Issey Miyake Animals Poster Series

Credits & Description:

Title: Pleats Please Issey Miyake Animals Poster Series
Agency: Taku Satoh Design Office
Brand: Issey Miyake
Country: Japan
Advertising Agency: Taku Satoh Design Office, Tokyo
Entrant Company: Taku Satoh Design Office, Tokyo
Media Agency: Taku Satoh Design Office, Tokyo
Pr Agency: Taku Satoh Design Office, Tokyo
Production Company: Taku Satoh Design Office, Tokyo
Additional Company: Taku Satoh Design Office, Tokyo
Design Agency: Taku Satoh Design Office, Tokyo
Designer: Shingo Noma (Taku Satoh Design Office)
Strategy:
The target of this campaign was not limited to the core fans of PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE and we also aimed to create a visual that fascinates broad audience including those who are not interested in fashion. We chose a very familiar motif “animals” for the campaign. It is something that instinctively gives an impression of “cuteness” to anyone from adults to children. This unique visual is a combination of the cuteness of the animals and the elegance of the pleated cloth and it gives you a great impact as a whole.
Outcome:
This animal series campaign was featured in numbers of magazines including IDOL MAGAZINE?UK?, SETTE MAGAZINE and VANITY FAIR?ITALY?. 32 different websites from Japan, France, Greece, UK, Italy have also introduced the campaign in their articles. To name few, TWIN ONLINE FEATURE?UK?, CARTON and Fashion Installation?FRANCE?, Madame Figaro Greece?Greece?, VOGUE ACCESSORY and GLAMOUR.IT?ITALY?, VOGUE CO.JP, FASHION PRESS and Japan Design Net?JAPAN?,etc. This campaign was successful in attracting not only the loyal fans of the brand in the 30s to 60s but also the new fans of the younger generation.
Synopsis:
These posters were created as the visuals for the annual campaign of a fashion brand, PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE. Their clothes are very popular among female fans all over the world and they are not only very colorful, bright, and amusing, but offer the potential for anything. These “animals” visuals are created with a piece of cloth of PLEATS PLEASE itself and aimed to deliver the pleasure and beauty of PLEATS PLEASE to the public. They were not only made into posters and displayed at the stores but also expanded to the magazine advertisement, novelty postcards, digital signage at the airport, and billboard visuals.
Execution:
There are eight different animals created for this campaign: panda, cat, horse, gorilla, penguin, polar bear, and elephant. If the figure is too realistic, it will be descriptive and boring. Therefore, we delicately made an adjustment to portray the animals in a shape we can barely identify what it is. The series include few animals in unrealistic bright colors to add a fantastic element to the campaign and to appeal the brilliance and pleasure of PLEATS PLEASE clothing.The campaign was a big success that we expanded it to hold a final event, “PLEATS PLEASE NATIONAL PARK” as its concept, at major PLEATS PLEASE stores. After a half-year poster campaign period, they were displayed altogether as point-of-sale advertisement along with a new character, “safari boy”, who protects the animals. There were special package and fixture for the theme “national park”, and items were specially created such as outfit and scarf.
Campaign Description:
As I was experimenting the PLEATS PLEASE cloth by folding and bending, I discovered that it looks like an animal when looked from a certain angle. We called it the “hideaway angle” and explored them from every direction. We finally succeeded to detect eight different animals from a piece of PLEATS PLEASE cloth. It is difficult to portray eyes, noses and mouths with fabric, therefore, we reached an idea to capture the animals with back shot for more profound presentation. The animals we created are not quite realistic, but once you capture an animal, it becomes nothing more than what you see. This is the attractiveness of these visuals and something we intended.