Miyake, Issey, 1938–, Japanese fashion designer, b. Hiroshima, grad. Tama Art Univ., Tokyo, 1964. He came to Paris in 1965 and designed for Guy Laroche (1966–68) and Givenchy (1968–69) before moving to New York City and Geoffrey Beene (1969–70). Miyake opened his own design studio in 1970, and quickly established a reputation for an avant-garde approach with his fluid, unstructured designs in unusual, texturally varied natural and synthetic fabrics. Influenced by both traditional Japanese and Western design, particularly the work of Vionnet, his stylized garments are often layered and loose, wrapped and tied around the body in a variety of geometric configurations. Since working with the Frankfurt Ballet in 1988, Miyake also has used many kinds of pleated fabrics in a number of inventive designs.
See I. Miyake et al., Issey Miyake: Making Things (1999); studies by M. Holborn (1996) and L. Benaim et al. (1997); photographic study by I. Penn (1999).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Fashion: Biographies
