Issey Miyake belongs to the so-called first generation Japanese designers. This group of designers began their careers in the early 1970's in their own country, but left for Paris in the 1980's. They shook the foundations of the western fashion world with their shows. Their conceptual work, and its emphasis on experimenting with shapes and materials, was the exact opposite of the prevailing fashion at that time. The collections of the Paris fashion designers were all about glamour, sexuality and status. The Japanese designers focussed on challenging existing aesthetics and their philosophy, resulting in the deconstruction movement. Issey Miyake is renowned for his combination of traditional with technologically-driven design. He developed a way of pleating material which meant it could even be stuffed wet into a suitcase and still stay in perfect shape. This blouse is probably a very early Miyake design using this technique and was designed during the experimental stage of his Pleats Please line in 1993.