For ten years Irving Penn - one of the greatest fashion photographers of the post-war era - and Issey Miyake - probably the only designer of the century to take design into the realm of art - have shared an extraordinary collaborative relationship. 'Penn's photographs allow me to see my own designs, ' claims Miyake. This book springs from Penn's huge regard for the Japanese designer -and his recognition that the photographs depict pure, timeless and sculptural designs, designs that run counter to all the eroticism displayed in fashion. The photographs are directly connected to Penn's celebrated ethnographical studies, just as the designs reflect Miyake's interest in a global culture. The collaboration has come to fruition at the end of the century, when the boundaries between East and West, so often challenged by Miyake, are finally being discarded.