Issey Miyake Homme Plisse Monthly Color October – Pumpkin

Monthly Colors assigns a colour to a month, and October getting pumpkin is the series at its most literal and most enjoyable. It is a proper orange, warm and fully saturated, and putting it on a completely plain garment is the correct decision: a straight leg, an elastic waist, two side pockets, and nothing else to look at. The pleating is what keeps a colour this strong from becoming a flat expanse, since every fold presents a lit face and a shadowed one and the orange consequently reads as a range of oranges rather than a single block. A colour like this on a complicated garment would be overwhelming. On a plain one it is simply a very good trouser that happens to be orange.

An orange trouser is a commitment, and the plainness of the cut plus the depth the pleating gives the colour are what make it a wearable one rather than a costume.

The Monthly Colors series is one of the longest-running ideas in Issey Miyake's work, and the autumn entries are where it takes the most risks with colour.

100% polyester, made in Japan, in Pumpkin. Straight leg, pleated, with side pockets and an elastic waist.

Straight through the leg on an elastic waist, so it sits where you put it. Pleated cloth opens as it is worn.

Everything else should be neutral and preferably dark. Against black or charcoal the orange is sharp; against cream it warms and softens. It is the only colour the outfit needs.

The pleats are heat-set into the polyester and are permanent, so they wash without losing them. Wash at 30°C or below in a laundry net on a short cycle, or press gently by hand, and never tumble dry, iron, steam, or dry clean. Store rolled along the direction of the pleats. Our fabric care guide covers polyester and technical cloth.

The Trousers in Plum Violet are the line's other unconventional colour, and the Basics Trousers are the neutral version of the same idea. Everything we carry from Issey Miyake is listed together.