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April 23 2005 Sue Tam
Issey Miyake, Japanese Designer Who Won Global Acclaim
Issey Miyake, Japanese fashion designer, known for his unconventional collections and spectacular fashion presentations, was born on April 22nd, 1935.
Miyake was always predicted a career of an artist as he was really good at drawing, yet, fascinated with fashion magazines of his sister, he entered Tama Art University in Tokyo to study design. In 1965, Miyake came to Paris to continue his studies and also to work: he became an assistant designer for Guy Laroche in a year and stayed in the house till 1968. The moment he dropped the job there, another fashion giant hired the young talent - Hubert de Givenchy.
But French haute couture didn’t influence Issey Miyake – too much strict rules for the designer famous for his originality and, in 1969 he moved to New York to work for Geoffrey Beene, who really gave a spur to Miyake’s creativity.
In 1970, he came back to Tokyo to establish the Miyake Design Studio to produce traditional Japanese clothing. At first, the designer offered his collections to Bloomingdales, but they soon became available at the biggest stores at Tokyo, and in a year Miyake showed off his creations in New York. Next stop for his presentations was Paris (1973). The show was a total success and, a few years later, he founded his design company in France as well. The shows of Miyake are still held in Paris every season.
In 1976, the collections in traditional style were left behind and “Twelve Black Girls” show, in which black models presented second-skin designs, brought him the Mainichi Design Award and the fame of the avant-garde designer and, in 1982, Miyake established a department of his house in New York.
The designer believes that the best places for fashion shows are theaters and museums: starting from “Bodyworks”(1983), his shows were often held there, including Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
“Many people will say, well, clothes should be worn; but I think people can look at them in public, like seeing a film. I think museum exhibitions are very important. In 1973, Diana Vreeland made an incredible exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, ‘Inventive Clothes 1909-1939.’ It was a beautiful and great exhibition. Later, I brought the "Inventive Clothes" show to Kyoto,” shares the designer in his interview to Joan Simon.
Issey Miyake loves to experiment with different kinds of pleated fabrics and prefers to design clothes that allow as much freedom as possible, including the freedom of movements and the freedom of accessories choice: "These clothes are no wrappings. You can understand them the way you want, you can wear them the way you want." His collections have no age limitations: the show “Beautiful Ladies,” which took place in 1995, featured women ages 62 to 92.
The designer confesses: "I would be very happy if it was said of me that I had provided some keys to the 21st century. All I can do is to keep experimenting, keep developing my thoughts further. Certain people think that the definition of design is the beauty of the useful, but in my own work I want to integrate feelings, emotion. You have to put life into it.”
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