This Issey Miyake knitted ensemble belonged to Judith Chung, a fashion entrepreneur and journalist. The coat’s organic shape and ribbed textures in soft blue, pink and grey emulate a seashell’s surface, hence lending its name. It is paired with a matching off-shoulder top and pink skirt. It marks a period of Issey Miyake’s fascination with nature and biomimicry. Issey Miyake together with his team at Miyake Design Studio (est. 1970) combined novel technologies of synthetic textiles and innovative crafts to challenge conventions of clothing the body.Along with the rise of Japanese fashion globally in the 1980s, boutiques in Singapore catering to Japanese designers multiplied. Judith Chung was the owner of the popular boutique Man and His Woman (1972–1993), one of the most significant shops in Orchard Road that carried such Japanese brands. The multi-label store also brought in the most desirable global high fashion labels in the 1970s–80s. Her tastes and shop shaped an entire generation of fashionable people in Singapore and the region.
