I still vividly remember my first fragrance launch last year and it was the Parfums Pleats Please Issey Miyake. The brand Issey Miyake is not new to me. Most of my female friend loved the brand for it’s signature feminine scent. All I can remember is the soft but lasting fragrance and it’s tall and slim bottle design.

I would say Pleats Please is a breakthrough. Just when you think you know all about Issey Miyake…Pleats Please prove you wrong. It took the world to a whole new level with it’s exquisite design and concept.

Issey Miyake is known globally for his signature pleats- a look that went around the world in more than 80 colours. The designer Issey Miyake is known for his conceptual purity and elegant simplicity. His work exudes exuberance, dynamism, movement, and colour; it is contemporary yet timeless. Today, a great new adventure begins in the annals of Issey Miyake fragrance, continuing to forge a powerful bond with his fashion.

Why the name Pleats Please? Let me bring you on a lil walk through on the concept of “Pleats”.

‘Pleats’ was introduced into ISSEY MIYAKE in 1989, and has been developed every season thereafter. By 1993, it was ready to be launched as a complete and stand-alone brand and appeared as PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE for the Spring-Summer collection.
This is a line that is positioned to embody one of the most fundamental concepts of Issey Miyake – where the true value of design lies in its integration into the everyday life and comfort of the wearer. This is clearly demonstrated in the development and evolution of traditional techniques of processing and of pleating material into a highly functional modern product – light in weight and easy to wear and handle. This revolutionary concept has won the respect and admiration of women throughout the world and contributed to the growth of an iconic brand – an ingenious fusion of creation, technology and business.

I think most of you will agree that the bottle design is such an art. Based on my press kit info earlier, I understand that it is a complex undertaking in the development of this bottle and the 3D embodiment of the 2D image of the pleat. The cap takes the form of a floral calyx, a finely pleated abstraction that symbolises both a white flower and the Pleats Please fabric. The case exudes a cheerful sense of fantasy, mixing pink with orange in a jubilant fan dance of stylised petals traversed by veins that subtly evoke pleats. In direct homage to its fashion origins, the name “Pleats Please” adopts a logotype in which the E’s are narrowed, pressed and compressed as though finely pleated. Told ya it’s complex. From the concept to the bottle, to the cap and 3D embodiment of the pleats!

No matter how I turn the bottle’s direction I was fascinated by the ridges of the glass bottle. The multiple facets of the Pleats Please polyhedron come alive with never-ending ripples of light. I couldn’t agree more.

The fragrance is enlivened by the pink-tinged fragrance. That is all. There is no bright colorful bottle, no fancy schmancy box. But I was more excited with the bottle still. The floral calyx cap just perfect everything up.

I got to be frank. It took me some time to like the fragrance personally. At the launch I love it. It’s floral and it’s so me. I like it more when it’s freshly spray. I don’t quite like it when the fragrance tone down. There’s something about fragrance that somehow I will love it to death eventually. To me it’s about reading and understanding the perfumer’s vision and concept. It’s easier this way for me. Once I “get it” I started to accept the scent as it was designed to be.

Aurelien Guichard, the perfumer wanted to create a pleat-like “vertical” fragrance, a genuine floral that conveys an unequivocal, all-embracing femininity. Like a plush cocoon, Pleats Please is an addictive fragrance, a composition whose meticulously sculpted facets are echoed in its bottle.

The sparkling top note opens with the intriguing aroma of Nashi, a hybrid fruit that oscillates between pear and apple, with the pear note predominating. The joyous, upbeat middle note suggests a graceful sensuality, blossoming forth with fresh peony and sweet pea. Indole adds a fleshly, voluptuous touch and gives substance to the note. The accord is warm and vibrant, like “an invitation to fluidity”. The base note prolongs the sensation of mildness, settling into the rich woody notes of cedar while patchouli, taking on a vertical character, permeates the composition. Sweet, sensuous vanilla infuses the trail with radiant warmth. An absolute of creamy white vanilla blends with cosy white musks for a mellow finish.

Yes the scent was a lil bit sweet at first but dries down to a sweet floral note which is easier on the nose and easier to accept as well. Maybe it’s the festive weather or maybe it’s the spring season that makes me reach for this bottle daily for the past few weeks. The scent is EDT alright but lasted till the end of the day for me.

Issey Miyake lover will love this, floral scent lover will definitely love this. It comes in body lotion and deodorant spray too you know. Pick one!