Issey Miyake Pleats Please Thicker Bottoms Skirt

“Thicker” is a deliberate specification rather than a description: this is the same pleating on a heavier cloth, and the additional weight changes the behaviour completely. A fine pleat in a light fabric floats and flutters. In a thicker one it falls, so the skirt hangs in a defined column to just above the ankle and keeps its line while walking instead of drifting. The other decision that matters is the pockets, which are set into the seam. Pleated skirts routinely have none, because a pocket bag is a lump of extra cloth that has to survive the heat press and not disturb the pleat around it. Putting them in an in-seam so the pleating runs uninterrupted over them is the sort of problem that takes real effort to solve and that nobody notices when it is solved well.

Why we selected it

Pockets in a finely pleated skirt are harder to achieve than they look, and the heavier cloth is what makes this a skirt you wear rather than one you save. It goes from an ordinary day to a formal evening without changing anything about it.

Pleats Please is the Issey Miyake line built for daily wear rather than for occasion, and this skirt is the clearest argument for that intention.

Materials and construction

100% polyester, made in Japan, in Light Beige. Finely pleated on a thicker cloth, with in-seam side pockets and an elastic waistband.

Fit notes

Falls to just above the ankle. The elastic waist means it sits where you put it, and the heavier pleating holds a column rather than flaring. Pleated cloth opens in wearing, so there is more room in motion than at rest.

Styling

Light beige is a genuine neutral and takes almost anything above it. With a plain knit it is entirely everyday; with something sharper on top it reads formal, which is the range the cloth buys you.

Care

The pleats are heat-set into the polyester and are permanent, so it washes 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 it rolled along the direction of the pleats. Our fabric care guide covers polyester and technical cloth.

Related pieces

The Grainy Colors Skirt is a horizontally pleated skirt with the same pocket thinking, and the Thicker Bottoms 2 Pant is the trouser on comparable cloth. Everything we carry from Issey Miyake is listed together.