Issey Miyake

TASS reported that designer Issei Miyake has died, citing Japanese agency Kyodo. He was 84 years old. Miyake was a representative of conceptual fashion. In the early 1980s, he started presenting his collections in Paris based on minimalist design and androgynous style.

Miyake was born in Hiroshima and survived the US atomic bombing of the city at the age of seven. His mother died soon after due to the effects of radiation.

The designer graduated from Tokyo Tama Art University, where he studied design. Early in his career, he formulated the concept of a “cloth piece” when the simplest cut was preferred in order to preserve the integrity of the material. At the same time, Miyake’s approach to fashion was on the verge of utility and at the same time balancing the artistic value of things. Pleats and curtains were one of the designer’s signature techniques.

Issey Miyake 1984

Issey Miyake 1995

Miyake was one of the pioneers of the trend of collaboration between designers and artists in the fashion world. She has also collaborated with dancers, architects and photographers she. The most striking collaboration developed with legendary photographer Irving Penn.

Penn talked about the Miyake collections.

Among the men there were also admirers of the concise style. So Miyake became friends with Steve Jobs and made for him black turtlenecks, which became part of the corporate image of the founder of Apple.

said Jobs.

Steve Jobs

In the late 1990s, Miyake continued to oversee the overall direction of his company, although he delegated the development of the brand’s men’s and women’s collections to his employees.

He is one of the directors of 21 21 Design Sight, Japan’s first design museum since 2012. In March 2016, the largest retrospective of her work was held at the National Center for the Arts in Tokyo, dedicated to the 45th anniversary of her career.