Teachers at a Brooklyn Montessori preschool have become an unlikely fashion phenomenon after social media users noticed staff members wearing Issey Miyake, a Japanese designer label whose signature pleated garments routinely sell for $500 to more than $1,500 apiece. Vogue reported on the trend, which turned the school's faculty into a subject of viral fascination this week.
The attention began when a user on X, formerly Twitter, asked: "[D]oes anyone know what the deal is Ms Lam Montessori…and why all their employees wear Issey Miyake (a very expensive an[d]…" Another commenter wrote, "These Brooklyn teachers are seriously dripped out in Issey Miyake."
The school's staff treat the clothing as more than personal style. According to the Vogue report, the teachers describe fashion as part of their teaching approach, with one framing it simply: "Children Love Beautiful Things Just Like Adults Do."
The math is striking for a profession known for modest pay. Bureau of Labor Statistics data put the median annual wage for preschool teachers at roughly $37,000 as of May 2023 — meaning a single Issey Miyake dress could represent about 3% of a teacher's yearly pre-tax income. Issey Miyake's Bao Bao geometric tote bags, a recognizable staple of the brand, retail for around $400 to $700 on their own.
Issey Miyake, who died in 2022 at age 84, built his reputation on technically engineered fabrics — most famously the pleats of his Pleats Please line, which are cut and sewn oversized, then heat-pressed into permanent folds. The garments are machine-washable, pack flat, and hold their shape, qualities that make them unusually practical for anyone moving constantly through a room of small children.
The viral reaction split along familiar lines. Some users questioned how preschool teachers could afford luxury clothing on typical salaries, while others pointed out that the brand's pieces are frequently found secondhand on resale platforms like eBay, Poshmark, and The RealReal, sometimes at 50% to 70% below retail.
The preschool did not respond publicly to the attention, and the teachers have not commented on their salaries or how they acquired the garments.
The episode lands in the middle of a broader national conversation about early childhood education compensation. Preschool teacher pay sits near the bottom of U.S. education wages, well below the roughly $69,000 median for kindergarten and elementary teachers, even though the role often requires a degree and state certification. Turnover in the field runs high, with many educators citing pay as the primary reason for leaving.
For the Brooklyn school, the viral moment has done something unusual: turned anonymous early-childhood educators into style figures, at least for a week, on the strength of their wardrobes.
