Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, whose career spanned half a century, has died at the age of 84.
A statement from the company, sent to FashionUnited upon request, said: “It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that Issey Miyake, designer and founder of Miyake Design Studio and the Issey Miyake Group, passed away on August 5, 2022 in a hospital in Tokyo passed away surrounded by his closest friends and employees. He died of hepatocellular carcinoma.”
In addition, at Mr. Miyake’s request, there will be no funeral or memorial service.
About Issey Miyake
Miyake was born in Hiroshima in 1938. After studying graphic design in Tokyo, he went to Paris in the early 1960s. There he showed his first own collection in 1973.
“Mr. Miyake has always been a pioneer, committed to traditional craftsmanship while at the same time searching for new solutions: the latest technologies, guided by research and development. (…) His spirit of joy, emancipation and beauty will be carried on by future generations.”
Among other things, he is a prizewinner of the ‘Praemium Imperiale’, also known as the World Culture Prize, which is considered the Nobel Prize for art. It honors artists who have had an important impact on the cultural world. Issey Miyake not only made his mark on the international fashion world with the sculptural designs of his legendary collections under his own name and with ‘Pleats Please’, his work is also regularly shown in museums.
This post was updated at 12:40 p.m. on August 9 with a statement from the company.