Issey Miyake: Things you should know about the iconic designer

Issey Miyake, a Japanese fashion designer with a worldwide career spanning more than 50 years, died at the age of 84. Miyake's funeral had already taken place, with "only family attending" in accordance with his wishes, and no public celebration was planned.

Who was Issey Miyake?

Issey Miyake was a Japanese fashion designer who was born in Hiroshima in 1938. In August 1945, Miyake was just seven years old when the United States detonated an atomic bomb on the city. He survived the disaster, which killed an estimated 140,000 people on impact and effectively ended World War II three days later with the bombing of Nagasaki.

In 1970, he founded the Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo, and shortly after, he launched his first Paris store. His career was in full swing by the 1980s, when he experimented with materials ranging from plastic to metal wire and even handcrafted Japanese.

Issey Miyake and his perfume connection

Miyake released his debut perfume, L'Eau d'Issey, in 1992 in collaboration with Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido. The perfume became a cult classic because of its fresh and airy aroma and beautiful container, which Miyake modelled on a view of the moon behind the Eiffel Tower from his Paris flat. Miyake has developed almost 100 distinct fragrances and colognes since the launching of L'Eau d'Issey.

Issey Miyake and his love for fashion

Miyake pioneered a proprietary form of permanent micro-pleating in the 1980s that employed a heat-treating technology to achieve a distinct and enduring aesthetic. Rather than pleating the fabric directly, the complicated method entailed creating clothes two or three times their ultimate size before folding, ironing, lacing them into paper, and pressing them with a heat press. Miyake's pleated works could be machine washed and air dried without losing their form since the texture was added to the sewed clothing. The style was so successful that the designer produced a full range called Pleats Please in 1993, which is still in production and in high demand today.\

How and when did Issey Miyake die?

On the evening of August 5, the iconic fashion designer passed away. Miyake, famed for his unique pleated clothes and for manufacturing 100 mock turtlenecks for Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, died in a Tokyo hospital of liver cancer. He lived to be 84 years old.