Fashion Influential #72: Issey Miyake
Japanese designer Issey Miyake won the Kyoto Prize for Art in 2006. Image via KyotoPrize.org
ISSEY MIYAKE
Born:
April 22, 1938, Hiroshima Japan
Has Collaborated with:
Ballet Frankfurt, Dyson, Takashi Murakami, Ron Arad, Cai-Guo Qiang
Fans:
Zaha Hadid
Fan of:
Musicals like Bring in Da Noise
Beginnings.
After Issey Miyake graduated from Tama Art University in Tokyo with a degree in graphic design in 1964, he set out to merge the worlds of art and fashion. During his early career in Paris and New York City, Miyake experimented with textile and fabric technology in his quest to "stimulate the imagination through clothing."
Career Highs.
Miyake's career hit a high note in the 1980s, when several Japanese designers' ultra-modern clothing became popular around the globe. During this time, Miyake also discovered a folding and pressing method that impressed pleats permanently into clothing, making them far more wearable. In 1992, Miyake launched a highly-successful fragrance, L'Eau d'Issey, but no one wore his clothes. This led Miyake to launch Pleats Please, a highly-wearable line of polyester jersey garments.
Function alone does not make clothing appealing. We yearn for the beautiful, the unknown and the mysterious.
- Issey Miyake
A geometric design by Miyake.Career Lows.
Before his "retirement" from the fashion world in 1999 (he spends his time researching technology, but still "oversees" production of his many lines), Miyake was often criticized for failing to design the clothes for the public, as his designs were often too esoteric to be worn (a criticism frequently heard of contemporary designers Gareth Pugh and Hussein Chayalan). As Miyake once noted, "there is no meaning in clothes unless they're worn by people."
Legacy.
In an age of constant reinvention, when designers are returning over and again to designs made popular decades before, Miyake's attention to the technological capacity of fashion design is particularly important. He, more than most other major designers at the end of the 20th century, pushed the fashion world towards a conceptual revolution.
Runway photos from Issey Miyake Spring/Summer 2009.Get the Look.
Issey Miyake's clothing is not cheap. The price point on his user-friendly Pleats Please line is around $400 for a jacket and $300 for pants - not terrible, but certainly not chump change. Those of us who can't afford Issey Miyake threads should think creatively about what they're wearing, and try to find clothing made from materials synthesized for utmost function.
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