Issey Miyake: Who is the Japanese designer who died at 84?
Japanese designer Issey Miyake died at the age of 84 on the evening of August 5, 2022, according to AFP information. A look back at the career of a designer who made pleats his trademark.
The creator Issey Miyake died on the night of August 5 at 84 years old according to information from AFP (Agence France Presse). Known for his art of pleating, a true technical feat, and his love of original materials, the designer has left his mark on the fashion world during his long career.
How did Issey Miyake get his start in fashion?
Issey Miyake was born on April 22, 1938. in Hiroshima. On August 8, 1945, he was only 7 years old when the atomic bomb exploded just 3 kilometers from where he lived. His mother, 50% burned, died of her injuries a few years later. Affected too, he will suffer from a bone disease which forces him to drop out of school. A true survivor, he emerges from this painful experience with a desire to live stronger than ever. In 1958, he entered Tama University of Fine Arts in Tokyo to study design. He particularly focuses on fashion and the process of creating clothes. In the 60s , Issey Miyake develops his address book and offers the world an aesthetic fashion that 'take to the streets' . A desire to reach a wide audience, which can be found in particular in one of its parades in 1963, soberly baptized A poem of cloth and stone . In 1965, he put his suitcases down Paris and also approaches a handful of major fashion houses such as Guy Laroche and Givenchy. To establish his style and his work, he enrolled at the School of the Parisian Couture Union Chamber. 'My first years in Paris were important because they served as a springboard in my career, the notions of beauty and aesthetics of the human body were then too rigid for me. Fortunately, perceptions were turned upside down by the wind of freedom which was blowing in 1968' , he confided.
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What is Issey Miyake's style?
Innovator, Issey Miyake will notably draw inspiration from style hippie before returning to Japan to design his very first official collection. It was in 1971 that he presented his first plays, in New York, to Diana Vreeland, editor-in-chief of Vogue US at the time. He then flew to Paris to present his first collection in 1973. Determined to pass on his knowledge, he built the Miyake Design Studio (MDS). The brother of the famous architect Tadao Ando is in charge of the plans. The three branches? The design sector, the workshop, and management. 'All my research has always been centered on the movement and freedom allowed by the garment. The person who wears it gives it its final dimension' , he says in an interview with the Swiss media Time , in 2016. In a first collection designed in collaboration with Makiko Minagawa, he presents jeans in sashiko (kind of quilted and quilted fabric, with geometric patterns and bright colors). These pieces are freely inspired by the old fabrics of rural Japan.
Why are his pleats famous?
Issey Miyake is particularly known for his 'pleats', iconic pieces that testify to a technique of pleated very precise established in 1988 and inspired by the dancers. ' My work focuses on the construction of the space between the garment and the body “, thus specifies Issey Miyake during an interview granted to Release several years later. Pleats Please Issey Miyake , a separate range devoted to this technique, was launched in 1993. In 1999, he presented his last collection, before giving way to Naoki Takizawa, who until then had held the position of assistant to the designer. He launched, shortly before his withdrawal, the perfume water from Issey . In 2005, he was crowned with a Premium Imperial, the equivalent of the Japanese Legion of Honor. Two years later, he opened the Miyake Issey Foundation. His creations have been exhibited over the years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Laforet Iikura Museum in Tokyo and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Today, the brand is divided into nine sections: Issey Miyake , IM Men, 132 5 Issey Miyake. Pleats Please Issey Miyake, A-Poc Able Issey Miyake, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake, Bao Bao Issey Miyake, Me Issey Miyake and Hate.
