On August 5, 2022, the world-renowned Japanese designer Issey Miyake died of liver cancer in Tokyo.
He was once hailed as a revolutionary designer in the field of clothing. His "Lifetime Pleats", "A Piece of Cloth" series of clothing and "Baobao" handbag series are world-renowned and have become synonymous with fashion.
In fact, Issey Miyake, who created fashion, has always been the vanguard of anti-fashion.
"I never make fashion, I just make clothes," he said.
This gentle and smiling oriental person lives in suffering, but hides the suffering, and finally successfully integrates the oriental design language into the western context, making an unprecedented innovation.
The life behind a piece of cloth
Issey Miyake, who broke into the international fashion circle in the 1970s, is known as "the Picasso of the fashion industry" and "the master of deconstruction", which emphasizes his consistent innovative ideas.
His idea of making an entire garment out of "one piece of cloth" has influenced many designers and architects.
And this "piece of cloth" thought has a complex origin, and it also reflects his childhood experience.
Issey Miyake was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1938. The radiation after the atomic bomb attack left his legs and feet disabled.
When he was a child, the resources at home were limited. His mother once made him a beautiful pair of pants with a flag. This warm "piece of cloth" will always remain in his memory.
Tragically, Issey Miyake's mother survived that explosion but suffered severe burns and tragically died a few years later.
Everything around him made Issey Miyake feel like he would die young too.
But sometimes, fate gives him new gifts around the corner of life.
As a child, Issey Miyake would always stop by his bicycle near a tailor's shop he thought was special to see the clothes inside.
One day, when he saw his own reflection in the glass window of the store, he suddenly realized that clothing was his interest.
On the streets of Hiroshima, there are also works of great artists that inspire him.
When studying at Issey Miyake High School, he often passed by two streamlined bridges in Peace Park. These two bridges are the works of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
In the future, Issey Miyake not only drew inspiration from Isamu Noguchi's works, but also became a long-term friend with Isamu Noguchi.
Fang Zhenning, an independent researcher in the field of artist, design and lifestyle, believes that the language of Issey Miyake's clothing design has some similarities with Isamu Noguchi, "Among Noguchi's numerous sculptures, one type is a sculpture made of a piece of metal steel plate. I subjectively infer that based on the close relationship between Issey Miyake and Isamu Noguchi during his lifetime, Issey Noguchi's sculpture concept will also affect the formation of Issey Miyake's concept of 'a piece of cloth' cutting. Because in terms of time, Issey Noguchi's works are earlier than Miyake." Fang Zhenning of Japan told China News Weekly.
The understanding of the impermanence of life made Issey Miyake determined to engage in his favorite job in a limited time.
When he was in college, Issey Miyake studied graphic design. At that time, the modern fashion industry in Japan was just born, and design and clothing majors were absolutely niche choices. He could only try every way to absorb the knowledge he needed.
In 1960, when the World Design Conference was held in Tokyo for the first time, Issey Miyake, who was still studying, wrote a letter to the conference, asking why the fashion design category was not included in the design conference's activities.
In 1965, 27-year-old Issey Miyake came to study at the Institute of Fashion Trade Unions in Paris, France, where he could finally get in touch with the most cutting-edge fashion design work.
While in Paris, he came into contact with the ideas of French female designer Madeleine Vionet, who first used geometric calculations to design clothes and advocated making clothes out of "a beautiful piece of cloth".
This idea made him quite agree and took root in his heart.
East to West
Hong Huang, a senior fashion media person, analyzed that the three Japanese design "giants", Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, brought three oriental aesthetic elements to Westerners.
The first is an implicit oriental aesthetic that does not advocate exposure; the second is an oriental folk dressing custom, which is characterized by movement and comfort;
Different from the Western 3D three-dimensional tailoring, the Easterners often use the "flat" 2D tailoring method for clothing.
These qualities and elements are mostly reflected in Issey Miyake's clothing design.
And it was his life in Paris that laid the foundation for Issey Miyake's clothing ideas.
In May 1968, Issey Miyake witnessed the "May Storm" set off by young people in Paris. This social movement with the theme of opposing mainstream culture and war had a major impact on his psychology.
He found that he wished to make clothes for the majority, not just for the "couture crowd".
Belonging to his personal design concept began to brew.
The "May Storm" and the revolutionary trend of thought popular around the world made the deconstructionist art ideas critical of all traditions popular, and the ideas of Zen Buddhism and Buddhism in the East gradually spread.
These ideas were commonplace in the East, but in the West they became symbols of the avant-garde, the alternative and the avant-garde.
Issey Miyake, an Oriental who came to the West at the right time, was integrated into the Western discourse system, and his thoughts began to take shape.
In Paris, he also worked as an assistant to the well-known designer Guy Laroche and drew sketches for Hubert de Givenchy, founder of the Givenchy company.
At the time, the fashion in France was still haute couture and the so-called "high society" style.
Although he has learned a lot of work experience from these masters, Issey Miyake knows that such an "ungrounded" company is not the place he wants to stay, and he still wants to design comfortable clothing for more people.
In 1969, Issey Miyake went to New York and became an assistant to the well-known New York designer Jeffrey Bean. He learned the large-scale industrial production of clothing in New York and met many artists who inspired him.
He liked the city's free style more than Paris, and his first works stayed in New York.
In 1970, Issey Miyake returned to Japan to set up his own design studio.
In 1973, he began to exhibit his works at Paris Fashion Week, and gradually made an oriental voice on the world stage.
In 1988, Issey Miyake began to publish his "Life Pleats" series of clothing. The production principle of this clothing is to use fabrics that are two to three times larger than the original fabric required, and undergo complex special processing to keep the beautiful pleats. constant.
Compared with the high-end fashion that needs maintenance, this kind of clothes is light, easy to fold and carry, and it is not too picky, and it is very friendly to ordinary people.
Later, Issey Miyake designed the light "Life Pleats" costumes for the Frankfurt Ballet in Germany, and the dancers performed wonderfully when they wore them.
Taking advantage of this experience, Issey Miyake decided to use dancers instead of models to showcase many of his designs, showing the lightness and movement of clothing.
As a result, the "Lifetime Pleats" series has spread more widely.
In 1997, Issey Miyake reached another peak.
He teamed up with engineers to launch the "A Piece of Cloth" line of clothing.
It's both a clothing line and a name for a garment-making process, and it's in line with the ideas he's been brewing.
Through "Life Pleats" and "A Piece of Cloth", Issey Miyake became a recognized master of deconstruction.
But Issey Miyake felt that he was just making clothes and never thought of creating a fashion.
His natural oriental thinking was perfectly integrated with the rebellious and egalitarian social ideology of the West at that time, and the "anti-fashion" pioneer became the most fashionable pioneer.
Socializing widely, spreading peace and love
Issey Miyake is a low-key man, but he has always had deep friendships with artists around the world, and has influenced their thinking.
In 1998, at the French Cartier Center, Chinese artist Cai Guoqiang and Issey Miyake collaborated on the work "Dragon: Fried Issey Miyake Clothing".
They placed 63 garments from the "Lifetime Pleats" collection in the shape of dragons and blasted them with gunpowder and rocks, creating black spots and small holes in the garments.
Cai Guoqiang sighed that Issey Miyake gave him an unrestrained start, allowing him to create at will on his clothes.
"The emotional communication and methodology embodied in his works often remind us of the beauty and strength of the East." Cai Guoqiang wrote in a commemorative article after Issey Miyake died.
The relationship between Issey Miyake and Apple CEO Steve Jobs also created a popular trend in the IT industry.
As Walter Isaacson, the author of "Jobs Biography" once wrote, in the 1980s, Jobs, who loved oriental culture, went to Sony Japan for inspection and saw that Sony employees were wearing work clothes designed by Issey Miyake. He was infected and wanted to invite Issey Miyake. Work clothes for Apple employees.
But no one at Apple wants to wear the uniform.
Later, Issey Miyake and Jobs became friends, and he made 100 black sweaters he liked for Jobs alone, and Jobs would wear one at Apple's new product launch every year.
The same and similar styles of this dress have also become a best-seller in Issey Miyake.
After Jobs passed away in 2011, Issey Miyake took the product off the shelves as a tribute to Jobs.
In addition to interacting with artists, Issey Miyake has never forgotten where he came from. He draws nutrients from Japanese folk culture.
In 2015, the documentary about Issey Miyake "Born for Design" mentioned that Issey Miyake has contacts with craftsmen from all over Japan.
At that time, Issey Miyake met the last descendant of the art of papermaking in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and learned from her the essence and details of the art of origami.
At the time, he was working on the clothing line "132.5 Issey Miyake" based on the art of origami.
There are many such folk exchanges in Issey Miyake's experience.
Researcher Fang Zhenning learned that after the death of Japanese cultural man Masako Shirakawa a few years ago, Issey Miyake made a memorial speech. He said that when he was in college, he often walked past the store opened by Shirakawa, and Shirakawa’s aesthetics subtly influenced him. he.
When he was just working as a designer, Issey Miyake's idea of "a piece of cloth" also drew inspiration from the dress of African residents, because they usually wear "a piece of cloth", which is comfortable and does not affect labor.
After retirement, Issey Miyake continued to spread his ideas.
In 1999, he took a back seat, but he continued to take apprentices, study traditional culture, and produce new works.
In 2006, together with renowned architect Tadao Ando, he planned to build a design museum for Tokyo called 21-21.
Tadao Ando is also a friend of Issey Miyake. He fully understands his philosophy. In the design of this museum, he gave full play to Issey Miyake's idea of "a piece of cloth". The roof of the museum looks like a large folded steel plate. This steel plate It is 54 meters long.
Looking back on his life, Issey Miyake once said that part of the reason he fell in love with the field of fashion design was a more modern and optimistic form of creation.
Having experienced the hardships of war, he always wanted to forget this hardship and continued to export optimism, idealism and happiness.
Clothing is the best form he chooses.
He once said: "In Japanese, the pronunciation of fu is fuku, and fuku is also '福'. Maybe I'm trying to create happiness for the people, but also for myself."
Reporter: Qiu Guangyu
"China News Weekly" Issue 32, 2022
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