Preferring to define himself as a "clothing manufacturer" rather than a stylist, he was part of the wave of young Japanese designers who brought a breath of fresh air to Parisian haute couture from the 1970s.

He is particularly known for having made clothes made of a single piece of fabric ("A-POC, A Piece Of Cloth"), without seams, thus optimizing movement, fluidity and comfort.

His "Pleats Please" line, perfecting the pleating technique to make clothes wrinkle-resistant, also made an impression.

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Launched from 2010, its line of geometric and embossed bags "Bao Bao" has further reinforced its aura.

Issey Miyake was also the official supplier of the famous black turtleneck sweaters to Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former boss of Apple.

"Issey Miyake is a man of research, a discoverer, a great inventor who has designed and used materials and textures unique in the world", summarized in 2021 with AFP the former French Minister of Culture Jack Lang, also emphasizing his "moral, intellectual elegance" and his "profound humanity".

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Craft paper and wire

Barely graduated from the Tama University of Fine Arts in Tokyo, the Japanese moved to Paris in 1965, imitating his compatriot Kenzo Takada (1939-2020).

The two study at the school of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and become friends.

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Issey Miyake first worked as an apprentice at Guy Laroche then at Givenchy.

But his vision of fashion was above all influenced by the student revolt of May 1968 in Paris: rather than designing clothes for a privileged few, he decided to invent universal and practical clothes, "like jeans and t-shirts “, he will say later.

In 1970, he founded his design studio in Tokyo, and his first boutiques opened a few years later in Tokyo and Paris.

Throughout the 1980s, as stores carrying his brand multiplied, Issey Miyake spread his style by using materials never before seen in fashion (plastic, wire, Japanese craft paper, horsehair, raffia. ..).

The Japanese art of folding (origami) also inspires him.

With textile researchers and design engineers in his research and development laboratory, he has also created a synthetic fiber from recycled chemical material, in partnership with a Japanese firm.

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"My work has always been a team process (...). We always see things differently when we allow others to be part of a creative process", he explained to the New York Times in 2014.

The stigmata of Hiroshima

Born on April 22, 1938 in Hiroshima (western Japan), Issey Miyake was seven years old on August 6, 1945 when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb in history on his hometown, killing 140,000 people and traumatizing people for life. survivors.

"When I close my eyes, I still see things that no one should ever experience: a blinding red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in all directions desperately trying to escape - I remember all that", he had testified in 2009 to plead in favor of nuclear disarmament.

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His mother died three years after the end of the Second World War from radiation caused by the bomb.

And he himself endured great physical suffering which handicapped his walk.

But for a long time, Issey Miyake had avoided talking about his experience as a survivor of Hiroshima, for fear of being cataloged as such or of appearing "pathetic".

He preferred "to think of things that can be created and not destroyed, and which bring beauty and joy", before realizing belatedly that he had "a personal and moral responsibility" to also express himself on this theme. sore.

© 2022 AFP