 Miyake Issei (1935~ )
Known abroad under his label name of Issey Miyake. Born in Hiroshima
Prefecture and a graphic design graduate of Tama University of
Arts, he won the Mainichi Design Award in 1976. Miyake is known
for his unconventional designs and reinterpretations of traditional
textile designs in various modern materials. He creates these
fabrics together with his assistant Minagawa Makiko.
From 1966~68, Miyake worked for Guy Laroche and Givenchy in Paris
and the following year he worked for Geoffrey Beene in New York.
In 1970, he opened the Miyake Design Studio and in 1971 he established
Miyake International Inc. Miyake showed his first collection in
1971 in both Tokyo and New York, and in Paris for the first time
in 1973. He established a design company in France in 1979, and
in the United States in 1982.
 Miyake's work is often seen in the theater or in museums. For
example, an exibition of his work was held at the Musee des Arts
decoratifs in Paris in 1988 and in the same year he designed costumes
for the Frankfurt Ballet. Since that collaboration, his designs
have featured many kinds of pleated fabrics. Since 1990, one of
his popular brands has been Issey Miyake Pleats Please.
Of his work, Miyake says "These clothes are no wrappings. You
can understand them the way you want, you can wear them the way
you want."
Among many other awards, Miyake has won the Mainichi Newspaper
Fashion Awards three times (1977, 1984, and 1996), the Neiman-Marcus
Award (1984) and the Best Collection by a Foreign Designer at
Les Oscars de la Mode in Paris (1985). He is also a guest member
of Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. |
