Author: Yuri Kageyama
Associated Press
Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake smiles as he stands among models as he presents his “Fall/Winter 1993/1994 Ready-to-Wear Collection” on March 17, 1993 in Paris, France. Miyake died of liver cancer on August 5, 2022, the Miyake Design Office said on Tuesday, August 9. (AP Photo/Lionel Cirroneau)
TOKYO (AP) — Issey Miyake, who founded one of Japan’s biggest fashion labels and is known for his boldly sculpted pleated pieces and the black turtleneck sweaters of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, has died. He is 84 years old.
Miyake died of liver cancer on August 5, the Miyake Design Office said.
Issey Miyake defined an era in Japan’s modern history, becoming the star of a generation of designers and artists in the 1970s who made a global reputation by defining a unique vision of Japan in the West.
Miyake’s origami-like pleats often turn vulgar polyester into fashion. He also uses computer technology in weaving to create garments. His down-to-earth costumes are designed to celebrate the human body, regardless of race, size, shape or age.
Issey Miyake even loathes being called a fashion designer, choosing not to identify with what he considers frivolous, trend-conscious, conspicuous consumption.
Issey Miyake returns again and again to the basic concept he started with a piece of cloth – whether draped, folded, cut or wrapped.
Over the years, he has drawn inspiration from a variety of cultural and social themes as well as everyday objects – plastic, rattan, “wahi” paper, jute, horsehair, foil, yarn, batik, indigo dye and wire.
He sometimes evokes images of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, or collaborates with Japanese painter Tadanori Yokoo on vibrant, psychedelic monkeys and foliage.
He also collaborated with furniture and interior designer Shiro Kuramata, photographer Irving Penn, choreographer and director Maurice Bejart, ceramicist Lucie Rie and the Frankfurt Ballet.
In 1992, Miyake was commissioned to design the official Olympic uniforms for Lithuania, which had just broken away from the Soviet Union.
Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Issey Miyake became a star as soon as he set foot on the European runway. His brown blouse, which combines Japanese sewing fabric “sashiko” with raw silk knit, was featured on the cover of the September 1973 issue of Elle magazine.
Miyake was also a pioneer in gender roles, when she invited feminist Fusae Ichikawa as his model in the 1970s (when she was in her 80s), with the message that clothing had to be comfortable and express the natural beauty of real people.
Although he makes clothes that transcend the mundane and appear to be spiritual, he emphasizes never being pretentious, always endorsing the look of t-shirts and jeans.
“Design is like a living organism that pursues what is essential to its well-being and continuity,” Issey Miyake once wrote in his book.
His office confirmed that a private funeral had been held and that other ceremonies would not take place as Miyake had wished. Issey Miyake kept his family life secret, and the survivors are unknown.
