Miyake and Fujiwara's A–POC (A Piece of Clothing) Queen Textile is an innovative outfitting system that produces self–tailored clothing through mass production, a marriage of systems that seem inherently at odds. An industrial weaving machine is preprogrammed to spin an enormous, continuous tube of fabric. A repeating pattern of seams is woven into the tube, creating a patchwork of shapes whose outlines begin to suggest dresses, shirts, socks, gloves, and hats. The customer can cut along the seams without destroying the tubular structure of each individual item. The result is a puzzle of monochromatic articles of clothing that leaves behind virtually no wasted material.
Each item is designed to be slightly oversized when cut from the roll, allowing users to further customize their garments with scissors—sleeve length, bias, and neckline are just a few of the possibilities. By making the wearer the ultimate designer of the outfit, Miyake and Fujiwara's rapid, efficient, and infinitely customizable system pushes conventional textile technology and creates everyday clothing that transcends ephemeral fashion trends.
The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights since 1980, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007, p. 180.
Gallery label from Life Cycles: The Materials of Contemporary Design, 2023
Miyake and Fujiwara’s A-POC (A Piece of Clothing) Queen Textile is an outfitting system that delivers serially produced garments on demand, thus marrying two systems that seem inherently at odds. An industrial weaving machine is programmed to spin an enormous, continuous tube of fabric with a repeating pattern of seams woven into it in outlines that suggest one-size-fits-all dresses, shirts, socks, gloves, and hats. Customers cut along the seams to select the garments they want, leaving the rest of the tubular structure for others. The monochromatic puzzle of clothes results in little wasted material.
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Issey Miyake
Japanese, 1938 – 2022 5 works onlineCan clothes be art, and can artworks be fashion items? When considering art and fashion, it can be challenging to define where each field begins and ends; include design in this consideration, and the boundaries get even blurrier.
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