Remembering Japanese Fashion Designer Issey Miyake
Japanese fashion maverick Issey Miyake passed away today at the age of 84. He is widely known for his technology-driven clothing designs, colorful, playful yet practical runway shows and bestselling fragrances. Here are a few things you should also know about Issey Miyake.
Miyake began his professional career as a graphic designer.
Issey Miyake studied graphic design at Tama Art University in Tokyo, before moving to Paris in 1965 to study at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. In Paris, he began to work with Guy Laroche and Hubert de Givenchy. After a brief stint in New York City working with Geoffrey Beene, Miyake returned to Japan to launch his own label in 1973.
Miyake was one of the first Japanese designers to show in Paris and was part of a wave of designers that put the island nation on the international fashion map in the 1970s.
Miyake took global politics to the runway.
Miyake made an immediate political statement with his Tattoo Dress. The dress merges the Japanese culture of Irezumi tattoo with the icons of youth and rock protests Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Unprecedented for the time, Miyake’s runway show was revolutionary in taking politics to the catwalk and giving fashion more social meaning.
Bloomingdale’s was the first U.S. retailer to pick up his line.
Bloomingdale’s began buying Miyake’s pieces, and his career started to take off. By 1973, he was already moving away from traditional fabrics like wool and silk, using nylon and polyester instead.
The re-invention of pleats.
In 1988, Miyake launched Pleats Please, a collection of clothes that combine functionality - they’re light and wrinkle-proof, they don’t need to be dry-cleaned, and they can be folded to a compact size for easy storage and carrying - with a versatility that makes them suitable for all settings. The pleats line grew until it finally became a brand of its own with the launch of the Spring/Summer collection in 1994. If you’re a heavy traveler, or just someone who’s into playing with color, shapes and texture, this line is for you.
The designer’s crimped fabrics have more recently enjoyed growing popularity with a label launched in 2013 for men - Homme Plissé Issey Miyake.
Issey Miyake saw the future of fashion.
“It takes seven or eight years for people to understand what I am doing,” Issey Miyake about his A-POC project.
A-POC — or A Piece of Cloth — the experimental line Miyake founded in 1998, was emblematic of the designer’s search for clothes that addressed the needs of contemporary lifestyles. A-POC clothes are produced in a continuous knitted tube and contain cutout patterns that the wearer cuts him/herself. This is revolutionary because it instigates dialogues the creators and wearers.
Steve Jobs’ black mock neck sweater.
Apple founder Steve Jobs had his black mock neck sweaters specially made for him by Issey Miyake. Jobs’ early-‘80s Apple corporate uniform idea was inspired by the practical uniforms designed by Miyake for all the Sony employees.
But when Apple staff laughed at Jobs for wearing Miyake’s nylon vests, Jobs asked Miyake to make him more than 100 of his black mock neck sweaters. He wore those mock necks, his Levi’s 501s and New Balance sneakers everyday until the day he died.
Celebrities wore Miyake’s clothes.
Robin Williams, sported one of the label's bomber jackets to the Flubber premiere in 1997. Rihanna performed in 2017 at Rock In Rio in Brazil wearing a vintage yellow windsuit by Issey Miyake. In 2014, Solange performed at the Out of Order magazine party in Miami Beach while wearing a leaflike, textured jade dress straight from the Fall 2014 Miyake collection. Currently, Wardrobe Stylist Luxury Law keeps Miyake current by dressing NASACR driver Lewis Hamilton in Miyake.
Miyake designed the Bao Bao bag.
In 2000, he introduced his modular Bao Bao bag made of triangular vinyl patches superimposed over mesh, giving it a high-tech and transformable appearance. Bao Bao Issey Miyake became a freestanding accessories brand starting with the fall-winter 2010 season.
While the designer had gradually withdrawn from the frontlines of the creative process, he passed the design baton to a string of design assistants, who have continued to show at Paris Fashion Week. Here’s the most recent Miyake run way show.
Wishing Issey Miyake’s family much peace and strength as they find their new normal. What are your favorite fashion moments from Issey Miyake? Share in the comments below.
