Issey Miyake was a magician capable of synthesizing impossible geometries in the abstraction of his designs. His genius, his ability to merge trends, tradition and avant-garde was a reflection of his overwhelming creativity and capacity for invention, which shocked and influenced the world of fashion, but also much further, in painting, sculpture, architecture, cinema, photography...
His career was forged from his graphic design studies in Tokyo. A time of searching for new references in which from the beginning Issey Miyake searched for new paths as in his collection "A poem of fabric and stone" his first exhibition in Tokyo in 1963, where his proposals were presented accompanied by a multimedia show. A path in constant search and investigation that caused him to be kicked out of the Shiseido cosmetics company for carrying out a "scandalous" campaign "Let's Show more Skin" in which a model appeared in a bikini, triggering his departure to Paris.
In search of references, he continued his training at the Paris Trade Union Chamber, until his time in the 1960s, through the workshops of Guy Laroche and later Hubert de Givenchy, passing through his trip to New York in 1968, until he opened his studio in 1970, as Miyake Design Workshop (MSD) in Tokyo.
His training in haute couture did not prevent him from the beginning from betting on simple and functional clothing, manufactured at reasonable costs, hybridizing his knowledge of Japanese artisanal fabrics in the current industry, he commented that fashion should be "relaxing, functional and practical."
His work was formed in a research context in which he was not the only one in his country to investigate, to search for connection links between East and West, to investigate between tradition and modernity, as they would do from Sōfū Teshigahara to Kenzo Tange, a translation of formal and aesthetic traditions that can be referenced in the Bauhaus, or in the work of contemporaries such as the sculptures of Ellsworth Kelly, photographer Irving Penn or the work by Isamu Noguchi.
Its experimental character not only focused on aesthetic issues but also addressed challenges in textile production, to insert tradition into the current industry.
Issey Miyake.
His career was forged from his graphic design studies in Tokyo. A time of searching for new references in which from the beginning Issey Miyake searched for new paths as in his collection "A poem of fabric and stone" his first exhibition in Tokyo in 1963, where his proposals were presented accompanied by a multimedia show. A path in constant search and investigation that caused him to be kicked out of the Shiseido cosmetics company for carrying out a "scandalous" campaign "Let's Show more Skin" in which a model appeared in a bikini, triggering his departure to Paris.
In search of references, he continued his training at the Paris Trade Union Chamber, until his time in the 1960s, through the workshops of Guy Laroche and later Hubert de Givenchy, passing through his trip to New York in 1968, until he opened his studio in 1970, as Miyake Design Workshop (MSD) in Tokyo.
His training in haute couture did not prevent him from the beginning from betting on simple and functional clothing, manufactured at reasonable costs, hybridizing his knowledge of Japanese artisanal fabrics in the current industry, he commented that fashion should be "relaxing, functional and practical."
His work was formed in a research context in which he was not the only one in his country to investigate, to search for connection links between East and West, to investigate between tradition and modernity, as they would do from Sōfū Teshigahara to Kenzo Tange, a translation of formal and aesthetic traditions that can be referenced in the Bauhaus, or in the work of contemporaries such as the sculptures of Ellsworth Kelly, photographer Irving Penn or the work by Isamu Noguchi.
Its experimental character not only focused on aesthetic issues but also addressed challenges in textile production, to insert tradition into the current industry.
«In Japan, there are remarkable techniques and materials including mixed fabrics. But unfortunately, these traditional skills are hidden in little workshops in the heart of the mountains and cannot be fully appreciated. I think the passion and the modest efforts of the people who keep alive these marvellous techniques for weaving silk and cotton are vastly important»
Issey Miyake
Issey Miyake.
Kibira, Issey Miyake. Summer - Autumn Collection, 1998. Photography by Yasuaki Yoshinaga, courtesy of Issey Miyake Inc.
Ideas and experiences that after intense field work crystallized in the recovery of old looms and factories that, in collaboration with the designer Makiko Minagawa, allowed her to create extraordinary fabrics. A process that has continued in his work and has allowed him to create incredible finishes on natural fabrics or artificial fabrics such as polyester, in which he placed a layer of titanium, chrome or aluminium to generate a wide spectrum of reflections.
His interest in blending industry and the movement of the human body, without forgetting tradition, gave him an innovative approach that allowed him to transform clothes into something else, with reflections, wrinkles or folded surfaces, developed by him and his team, a group of collaborators and designers whom he always thanked for their work.
Five decades of an incredible career, of questioning the nature of clothing, the way of presenting fashion, or his investigations between different disciplines and his contributions to contemporary production, make Issey Miyake an essential figure of our time.
Issey Miyake.
