Issey Miyake Passed Away. The Japanese Fashion Designer Was A Legend
Sad news for the fashion world: Renowned Japanese designer Issey Miyake passed away due to liver cancer.
The Japanese designer had a career spanning more than 50 years, during which time he combined traditional and modern industry-specific techniques, according to the BBC.
An employee of his Tokyo office confirmed to AFP that the Japanese fashion designer, who defied expectations to establish himself as an inventor and artist on a global scale, passed away at the age of 84.
The employee declined to give his name and provided no other information about his passing in a telephone interview, just stating that "He died on the evening of August 5."
Born on 22 April 1938 in Hiroshima (western Japan), Issey Miyake was seven years old on 6 August 1945 when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb in history on his hometown, killing 140,000 people.
Issey Miyake survived, but his mother died three years later from radiation poisoning. He avoided talking about the event and told the New York Times in 2009 that he did not want to be labeled the "designer who survived" the bomb.
"When I close my eyes, I still see things that no one should ever experience," Issey Miyake said, noting that his mother died from radiation exposure.
The Life Of Issey Miyake
When he was little, Issey Miyake intended to be a dancer or an athlete, but when he came across his sister's fashion magazines, he changed his mind. After completing his studies in graphic design at Tama Fine Arts University in Tokyo, the student relocated to Paris in 1965 to enroll in the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne program.
Before relocating to New York, Issey Miyake collaborated with famed fashion designers Guy Laroche and Hubert de Givenchy there. He went back to Tokyo in 1970 and started Miyake Design Studio.
Issey Miyake created a new method of pleating in the late 1980s by encasing fabrics in many layers of paper and pressing them in a heat press. Issey Miyake imposed his style all over the world using materials never before seen in fashion.
He was one of the young Japanese designers that recreated the 1970s Parisian haute couture look, preferring to refer to himself as a "clothing producer" rather than a stylist.
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Issey Miyake is best known for producing clothing with no seams from a single piece of fabric ("A-POC, A Piece Of Cloth"), which maximizes comfort, movement, and fluidity. He developed the pleating process with his "Pleats Please" line.
After the introduction of his "Bao Bao" line of geometric and embossed bags in 2010, Issey Miyake's reputation has grown. Additionally, Steve Jobs, a co-founder and former CEO of Apple, received his renowned black turtleneck sweaters from Issey Miyake on a regular basis.
