A viral Reddit post about a Brooklyn Montessori school, cross-posted to Substack by Court Street Journal, has gripped the aesthetically inclined corners of the internet for the better part of a week. In staff photos, it appeared the teachers were wearing Issey Miyake’s famous Pleats Please line, which can retail for $800 a dress. Viv Chen got in contact with the head of school to investigate. She is the one speaking in this post.
On Tuesday 06th of October 2026 night, as I was getting in one final phone scroll before bed, I came across a Reddit post by user u/80jazzfunkgreats titled “Issey Miyake Kindergarten ?” These three words strung together were such a powerful hook. You didn’t need to be a Williamsburg-dweller to get invested in the story.
And that’s how my bedtime plans went out the window ! I spent the next two hours wide awake, poking around the Ms. Lam Montessori website gathering the basic facts (Mandarin immersion school, founded in Taiwan and brought over to Brooklyn, ~$40K/year tuition) and trying to figure out the deal with the uniforms.
The next morning, “Issey Miyake Kindergarten” had officially exploded into pop culture news. The Ms. Lam Montessori Instagram account posted a clarification that the school uniforms were from “a different Japanese brand with a similar pleated look, at a more affordable price.” The brand is Yamasaki Takashi, and it’s sold in Taiwan. (They do not offer international shipping online).
The uniform question may have been settled, but the heart of this story runs deeper ! In my opinion, it didn’t really matter whether or not the uniforms were “authentic” Issey Miyake Pleats Please. It mattered that people thought they were possibly Issey Miyake and thus projected onto the school all the cultural connotations of the avant-garde designer brand. The interest in “Issey Miyake Kindergarten” also brought to mind TikTok creator Kevin Peter Wilson, who went viral for his videos about being the “only dad at the park wearing Comme des Garçons Homme Plus.” Though reactions to Wilson’s videos were mixed, both stories show the crossover between two seemingly unlikely arenas : niche designer fashion and parenting.
Here’s my interview with the Head of School, Stephanie Woo [. . .]
Who initially came up with the idea of this uniform for teachers, and when did it start ?
It was actually the original Ms. Lam—my mother—who came up with the idea. It started at our schools in Taiwan about 12 years ago, and we adopted it in New York after seeing how well they worked in the school environment.
Does the school buy the uniforms from Yamasaki Takashi specifically because you want the Issey Miyake Pleats Please style and construction at a more accessible price ? How much is the typical cost per piece ?
Prices vary by style, but we generally pay around US$120–$150 per garment.
Issey Miyake clothing is stunning, but we chose Yamasaki Takashi for its understated designs (clean cut, just-right length), comfort, durability, and price. They also wash extremely well. As you can imagine, working with children can make your clothes dirty very quickly ! These uniforms can be washed daily and hold their color and shape beautifully. Even after we’ve washed it 100 times, they still come out of the dryer looking pretty much the same. This means we only need to replace our uniforms every two years or so.
How did you select the specific pieces (the smock dress style teachers layer over other clothes) and colors ? Is there a standard silhouette, or do teachers get to choose ?
We choose a few styles and colors, then offer that selection to our teachers so they can choose the ones they prefer. Especially in Brooklyn, we want a recognizable look while still giving teachers some choice in what they wear.
What do you hope the children experience or notice when the teachers dress this way ?
From birth to age six, children have what Montessori calls the “Absorbent Mind”—they effortlessly absorb so much from their surroundings. Children love beautiful things just as much as adults ! They are naturally drawn to beauty, and by making it part of their daily lives, we hope to nurture their appreciation for it and their desire to care for the spaces and things around them.
There is also a practical purpose : the uniforms help young children recognize the adults who can help them, even on a busy campus. Sometimes children transfer between our campuses or attend summer camp at our schools in Taiwan. Seeing teachers wearing similar uniforms gives them an immediate sense of familiarity.
