Issey Miyake
Japanese
b. 1938
Issey Miyake was born in Hiroshima in the southern part of Japan, in 1938. In 1965, he graduated from Tama Art University in Tokyo, where he majored in graphic design. Following graduation, he went to Paris where he studied tailoring and dressmaking at l'Ecole de la chambre syndicale de la couture. In 1966, Miyake worked as an apprentice under the French couturier Guy Laroche, and two years later he apprenticed at Givenchy.
Miyake then went to New York in 1969 to work with the American designer Geoffrey Beene before returning to Tokyo, where he founded the Miyake Design Studio in 1970. One of Miyake's New York friends took some of his design samples to Vogue magazine and a major department store, Bloomingdale's. Both Vogue and Bloomingdale's were enthusiastic about his work, and Bloomingdale's gave Miyake a small section in the store. In 1973, when French ready-to-wear was institutionalized for the first time as prêt-à-porter, Miyake was invited to Paris to join a group show with other young designers. He opened a boutique there two years later and continued to show his collection in Paris. Miyake later became an official member of the French prêt-à-porter organization.
Miyake laid the foundation in Paris for avant-garde designers worldwide, and Japanese designers in particular. Miyake is best known for his original fabrics. He collaborates with his textile director, Makiko Minagawa, who interprets his abstract ideas. With Minagawa and the Japanese textile mills, he introduced his most commercially successful collection, Pleats Please, in 1993. Throughout his career, Miyake has been setting the stage for the Japanese look in the fashion industry.
