Issey Miyake

This definitive history of the life and work of Issey Miyake, initiated and conceived by Midori Kitamura, offers a unique insight into the renowned designer's vision and daring. Featuring stunning photographs by Irving Penn, Yuriko Takagi, and many others, the book serves as an encyclopedic reference to Miyake's material and technical innovations from 1960 to 2022.

Renowned clothing designer Issey Miyake (1938–2022) studied graphic design at Tama Art University, Tokyo, before founding the Miyake Design Studio in 1970, which became his creative base. In 2007, Miyake opened the design facility 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, also in Tokyo.

In 1983, Miyake told The New Yorker that he aspired "to forge ahead, to break the mold." With the boundary-defying fashion lines that followed, he not only broke molds but recast clothing altogether. His creations blend poetry and practicality, blurring the boundaries between tradition, modern technology, and everyday function.

This definitive history examines the texture-driven originality of Miyake's materials and techniques from the very earliest days of his career, before he had even established the Miyake Design Studio. Drawing on nearly 50 years of collaborative work with Miyake, Kitamura creates an encyclopedic reference of his material and technical innovations through the clothes based on A Piece of Cloth concept, Body Series of the 1980s, Miyake Pleats series, and such practical, everyday designs as Pleats Please pieces.

Stunning photographs capture Miyake's clothes in their particular quotidian originality. In her far-reaching essay, leading cultural figure Kazuko Koike offers both a complete chronology of Miyake's work and an unprecedented personal profile, looking at the ambition and inspirations that have driven his repertoire from tender teenage years.

A must-have for designers, students, and fashion devotees, this is a timeless tribute to one of the most innovative makers of our age. It is a celebration of Miyake's lyrical life-wear, a unique fusion of poetry and practicality that has redefined the boundaries of fashion.

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