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was a Japanese fashion designer. He was known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances, such as '' L'eau d'Issey'', which became his best-known product.


Life and career

Miyake was born on 22 April 1938 in
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
. He was still living in the city seven years later when the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb there in August 1945. He first disclosed this in 2009, when
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
advocated for global
nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics * Nuclear power * Nuclear reactor * Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine * Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nucl ...
. As a child, he wanted to become a dancer. His interest in fashion started by studying his sister's
fashion magazines Fashion journalism is a component of fashion media, with a focus on writing and photojournalism. Fashion journalists write about fashion events, trends and have to cultivate and maintain a relationship with stylists and designers. A fashion journ ...
. He studied
graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...
at the Tama Art University in Tokyo, graduating in 1964. He entered designs into fashion competition at the Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. However, he did not win a competition due to his lack of pattern-making or
sewing Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabr ...
skills. After graduation, he enrolled in the '' Chambre syndicale de la couture parisienne'' school in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and was apprenticed to Guy Laroche as assistant designer. He also worked with
Hubert de Givenchy Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (; 21 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the p ...
, drawing 50 to 100 sketches daily. In 1969, he moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he met artists like
Christo Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks and ...
and
Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...
. He was enrolled in English classes at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and worked on Seventh Avenue for designer Geoffrey Beene. Returning to Tokyo in 1970, he founded the Miyake Design Studio, a high-end producer of women's fashion. From a young age, Miyake respected artist
Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...
, whose novelty and sense of fun in his designs inspired Miyake. He was also inspired by fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet's use of geometric calculations and "a single piece of beautiful cloth". In Paris, he visited several museums and he mentioned that he was influenced by sculptors such as
Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of modernism, ...
and
Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo, ...
.
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The p ...
fashion editor Sylvia Rubin credits Miyake together with Babette Pinsky with "reinventing" the Mariano Fortuny pleat in the 1980s. In the late 1980s, he began to experiment with new methods of
pleat A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference. Pleats are ca ...
ing that would allow both flexibility of movement for the wearer as well as ease of care and production. The garments are cut and sewn first, then sandwiched between layers of paper and fed into a heat press, where they are pleated. The fabric's 'memory' holds the pleats and when the garments are liberated from their paper cocoon, they are ready-to wear. He did the costume for Ballett Frankfurt with an ultra feather-polyester jersey permanently pleated in a piece named "the Loss of Small Detail" William Forsythe and also work on ballet "Garden in the setting". Miyake realized that the new method of making clothes fit well in dancers. After studying how dancers move, he sent 200 to 300 garments for dancers to wear a different one in each performance of ''The Last Detail''. This led to the development of the ''Pleats, Please'' range and inspired him to use dancers to display his work. He had a long friendship with Austrian-born pottery artist Dame Lucie Rie. She presented him with her archival ceramic buttons, which he integrated into his designs. He also developed a friendship with
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor ...
's
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...
, who came to him after seeing the uniforms Miyake designed for employees of Sony's factories. At Jobs's request, Miyake designed similar vests for Apple employees, but Jobs encountered strong opposition to the idea of a uniform. Nonetheless, Miyake went on to produce the black turtlenecks which would become a part of Jobs' signature attire. Jobs said, "So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them." Legendary designer Geoffrey Beene stated that he admired Issey Miyake for Miyake's technique, this in an interview with poet/artist Steven Vita in ''Veery'' journal, 1991. In March 1992 he was quoted in the ''
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be sai ...
'' as saying "Design is not for philosophy—it's for life." Between 1996 and 1999 Miyake collaborated with artists for his Guest Artist series. The first collaboration was with the photographer and collage maker Yasumasa Morimura; the other artists were Nobuyoshi Araki, Tim Hawkinson, and Cai Guo-Qiang. Miyake stated that his intention was not to answer the question "Is fashion art?" but instead to create an "interactive relationship" between the art and the people who admired it. By wearing the artworks upon their bodies, the wearers interacted with fashion and art simultaneously. In 1994 and 1999, Miyake turned over the design of the men's and women's collections respectively, to his associate, Naoki Takizawa, so that he could return to research full-time. In 2007, Naoki Takizawa opened his own brand supported by the Issey Miyake Group and was replaced as Creative Director by Dai Fujiwara, who ran the House of Issey Miyake until 2012. The design duties were split as of the Spring/Summer 2012 collections, with Yoshiyuki Miyamae appointed head designer of the women's collection and Yusuke Takahashi designing the men's line. As of 2012, he was one of the co-Directors of 21 21 DESIGN SIGHT, Japan's first
design museum The Design Museum in Kensington, London exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum operates as a registered charity, and all funds generated ...
. From March 2016 the largest retrospective of his work was organized at
The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT) is a museum in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. A joint project of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the National Museums Independent Administrative Institution, it stands on a site formerly occupied by a research facility of the Univers ...
, celebrating 45 years of career. Miyake died of
liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...
on 5 August 2022, at the age of 84. File:Issey Miyake, Summer 1984 - Indigo Batik Dress 01.jpg, 1984 'Indigo Batik' cotton
kaftan A kaftan or caftan (; fa, خفتان, ) is a variant of the robe or tunic. Originating in Asia, it has been worn by a number of cultures around the world for thousands of years. In Russian usage, ''kaftan'' instead refers to a style of men's l ...
dress, RISD Museum File:Issey Miyake Rhythm Pleats series 1990.jpg, 1990 'Rhythm Pleats' collection File:Flying Saucer dress by Issey Miyake, Japan, 1994.jpg, 1994 'Flying Saucer' dress. PFF collection File:Yasumasa Morimura for Issey Miyake, printed polyester, 1997 02.jpg, 1996-7 'Guest Artist' design, Yasumasa Morimura for Miyake, RISD Museum File:Gunpowder Dress by Cai Guo-Qiang for Issey Miyake, printed polyester, 1998 02.jpg, 1998 'Guest Artist' design, Cai Guo-Qiang for Miyake, RISD Museum File:Steve Jobs talks about the iPhone (2197013436) (cropped).jpg, Steve Jobs wearing his signature black mock turtle neck by Issey MiyakeSteve Jobs' black turtleneck reportedly explained in biography
(Nathan Olivarez-Giles, Los Angeles Times, October 11, 2011)


Issey Miyake lines and brands

Miyake "oversaw the overall direction of all lines created by his company", even though the individual collections have been designed by his staff since his 'retirement' from the fashion world in 1997. Contemporary Magazine – The A-POC epoch *Issey Miyake – main collection line, subdivided into ''men'' (since 1978/85) and ''women'' (since 1971) collections, designed by Dai Fujiwara DNR -A-POC making (succeeded Naoki Takizawa in 2006) *Issey Miyake Fête – colorful women's line that "draws on the technological innovations of Pleats Please" (Fête means 'celebration' in French) (since 2004) *Pleats Please Issey Miyake –
polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natu ...
jersey garments for women that are first "cut and sewn and then pleated ..(normally, fabric is first pleated and then cut and sewn .." "to permanently retain washboard rows of horizontal, vertical or diagonal knife-edge pleats". Miyake patented the technique in 1993 *HaaT – women's line, designed by Miyake's former textile designer, Makiko Minagawa. HaaT means 'village market' in
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the la ...
, and the word sounds similar to 'heart' in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
*A-POC – 1998– custom-collection for men and women. Tubes of fabric are machine-processed and can be cut into various shapes by the consumer. A-POC is an
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
of 'a piece of cloth', and a near
homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...
of 'epoch'. *132 5. Issey Miyake – an evolution of the A-POC concept. Works are presented as two-dimensional geometric shapes made from recycled
polyethylene terephthalate Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...
mixed with natural fibers and dyes, which then unfold into structured garments. (since 2014) *me Issey Miyake – line of "exclusive one-sized shirts that stretch to fit the wearer" that are sold in a plastic tube, named Cauliflower for the non-Asian market. (since 2001) *Bao Bao Issey Miyake – line of bags *Issey Miyake Watches – men's and women's watches *Issey Miyake Perfumes – line of fragrances for men and women. See below *Evian by Issey Miyake – Limited edition bottle designed by Issey Miyake for Evian water. *Issey Miyake maintained a freestanding store, named ELTTOB TEP Issey Miyake (reverse of 'Pet Bottle') in
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
, where the full array of lines is available. * 21 21 Design Sight (a play on
20/20 vision Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
) is a museum-style research center for design, constructed by
Tadao Ando is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as " critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Early life Ando was born a f ...
, that was opened in
Roppongi is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike. It i ...
, Tokyo in March 2007. The center was headed by Issey Miyake (until his death in 2022) and four other Japanese designers, and operated by ''The Miyake Issey Foundation''. *The Miyake Issey Foundation, founded in Tokyo in 2004, operates the ''21_21 Design Sight'' center, organizes exhibitions and events, and publishes literature. *Issey Skyline – produced in limited quantities to promote the release of the Nissan Skyline in 1982.


Perfumes

Like many fashion designers, Issey Miyake also had a line of perfumes. His first fragrance, L'eau d'Issey, was created by perfumer
Jacques Cavallier Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud (born 24 January 1962) is a French perfumer formerly with the Swiss fragrance and flavor company Firmenich, who currently works for Louis Vuitton of the LVMH Luxury Group. He has created or collaborated in the creatio ...
. The scent was followed by L'eau d'Issey Pour Homme (for men) in 1994. L'eau Bleue d'Issey Pour Homme was introduced in 2004; and its evolution, L'eau Bleue d'Issey Eau Fraiche was introduced in 2006. Every year from 2007 on, Issey Miyake brought out a "limited time only" fragrance for ladies, for which he brought in a "guest" perfumer. In 2007, he launched 'Drop on a Petal', and in 2008 he launched 'Reflections in a Drop'. A new Issey Miyake men's fragrance, L'eau d'Issey Pour Homme Intense, was introduced at
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, a ...
in the United States in June 2007, with a larger worldwide rollout following in September 2007. Issey Miyake fragrances are produced under a long-term agreement by the Beauté Prestige International division of
Shiseido is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world and ...
.


Awards

*In 2005, he was awarded the
Praemium Imperiale Prince Takamatsu The Praemium Imperiale ( ja, 高松宮殿下記念世界文化賞, Takamatsu-no-miya Denka Kinen Sekai Bunka-shō, World Culture Prize in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu) is an international art prize inaugura ...
for Sculpture *Miyake won the Arts and Philosophy Kyoto Prize in 2006 *Japan's
Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipien ...
, 2010 * XXIII Premio Compasso d'Oro
ADI Adi or ADI may refer to: Names and titles * Adi (mythology), an Asura in Hindu faith who appears in the Matsya Purāṇa * Adi (name), a given name in Hebrew and a nickname in other languages * Adi (title), a Fijian title used by females of chi ...
, 2014, for family of lamps IN-EI Issey Miyake, Artemide


References


External links

* ;Exhibitions
Issey Miyake at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain (Paris)

Exhibition including Miyake's work at the Cincinnati Art Museum

Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work


{{DEFAULTSORT:Miyake, Issey 1938 births 2022 deaths Bags (fashion) Clothing brands of Japan Hibakusha High fashion brands Japanese fashion designers Kyoto laureates in Arts and Philosophy Recipients of the Legion of Honour Luxury brands People from Hiroshima Recipients of the Order of Culture Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Compasso d'Oro Award recipients Deaths from liver cancer