As the career retrospective Issey Miyake: 1960-2022 is published in the UK, we look back at the Japanese designer’s moments of fashion genius
Photography Tatsuo MasubuchiA CUT ABOVE
In this image, Grace Jones, June Murphy, Barbara Summers and Karen Wilson model the SS76 Hocho Cut collection (hōchō means kitchen knife in Japanese), which was lensed by frequent collaborator Tatsuo Masubuchi. Though Black models had been gracing catwalks throughout the decade, Miyake’s campaigns went beyond mere representation politics. In the same year, the designer staged special catwalk shows in Tokyo and Osaka called Issey Miyake and Twelve Black Girls. Seen as radical at the time, the runways featured all four models in this image plus Carol Standifer, Jessica Brown, Barbara Jackson, Toukie Smith, Ramona Saunders, Esther Kamatari, Paschal, and Jan Maiden.
Photography Daniel JouanneauNEW BODY
This plastic bustier was the finale look of Miyake’s AW80 show. Made by infusing glass fibres with polyester resin, the bodice was created alongside mannequin manufactures Nanasai, and came in multiple different colours. ‘Plastic Body’ went on to become one of the centrepieces of Miyake’s Bodyworks exhibition, which toured globally from 1983-85. The piece aimed to subvert the expectations of clothing as concealment, instead revealing the curves of the female body. Famous wearers include the bodybuilder Lisa Lyon, who posed for Robert Mapplethorpe in 1982, and also Grace Jones, who Miyake enjoyed a close working relationship with.
Photography Francis GiacobettiMIYAKE GETS GRAPHIC
Another creative Miyake enjoyed a special bond with was the influential graphic designer Ikko Tanaka. The pair met when Miyake was a 20-year-old graphics student in Tokyo, and went on to have a close relationship until Tanaka’s death in 2002. To celebrate the late artist, Miyake launched the special collection Ikko Tanaka Issey Miyake in 2016, and is still the only company in the world authorised to use Tanaka’s designs. These graphic work coats are taken from the third collection, launched in 2017.
Photography Yuriko TakagiMICROFIBRE MOMENTS
This Yuriko Takagi photograph was taken in 1986, and features Miyake’s AW86 collection. The vests, trousers, skirts, dresses and ponchos that made up the offering were crafted from a crease-free, high-density woven fabric. As was Miyake’s knack for innovation, the collection also incorporated microfibre as a garment material for the first time ever.
Photography Philippe BrazilA PLEATED REVOLUTION
Speaking of innovation, this lively moment comes from the finale of Miyake’s PFW SS94 show, where the designer first unveiled his Pleats Please collection. It was in the 80s that Miyake first began to experiment with light and practical construction, and for AW89 debuted his Mutant Pleats collection. After meeting the choreographer William Forsythe, Miyake then crafted angular, pleated creations for the Frankfurt Ballet in 1991. As well as the freedom of movement that these clothes afforded the dancers, the Pleats Please line was also inspired by the idea that the couture-coded method of pleating could be reinterpreted for everyday wear.
Photography Yasuaki YoshinagaMAKING IT NEW
Much like formal innovation, sustainability was also at the heart of Miyake’s practice. One of the Japanese designers most recognisable works is the Starburst collection from AW98, that took old clothing and heat pressed thin sheets of foil over the top. The high temperatures caused the metallic membranes to crack and expose the worn fabric underneath, exploring ideas around renewal and re-use. In this way, the collection was both old and new, a precursor to the current conversations about sustainability in fashion.
Photography Friedemann HaussONE CLOTH WONDER
Continuing his sustainable streak, Miyake also launched his A-POC collection in 1998. An acronym for ‘a piece of cloth’, the technology allowed an industrial knitting machine to take a single piece of thread and create a roll of fabric that was already sewn with finished clothing patterns. The wearer could then cut out their own garments from the fabric, with no waste, and wear them straight away. In 1999, Miyake teamed up with Yayoi Kusama for his Paris show, with the artist bringing her signature polka dots to the A-POC collection.
Photography Masaya YoshimuraTRACK & FIELD FASHION
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Lithuanian Olympic team was invited to the 1992 Barcelona games as an independent state for the first time since 1928. Though there were no obvious ties between Miyake and Lithuania, it was actually the team’s physician Dr. Edward Domanskis who was a huge fan of the Japanese designer, and wrote a letter asking if he would design the team’s uniform. Miyake accepted, saying at the time: “when I think about what clothes should be in the future, I think that sportswear is the most innovative and diverse.” After finishing the project, Miyake was then inspired to create uniforms for various different countries, which were displayed at his retrospective exhibition at Tokyo’s National Art Center in 2016.
Courtesy of TaschenISSEY MIYAKE: 1960-2022
Issey Miyake: 1960-2022 ed. Midori Kitamura is available now. Head here to purchase from Taschen.