Issey Miyake

RTW Spring 2011

Issey Miyake was born 22 April 1938 in Hiroshima, Japan. He studied graphic design at the Tama Art University in Tokyo, graduating in 1964. After graduation, he worked in Paris and New York City. Returning to Tokyo in 1970, he found the Miyake Design Studio.

In the late '80s, he began to experiment with new methods of pleating that would allow both flexibility of movement for the wearer as well as ease of care and production. This became Issey Miyake's trademark.

Pleats Please collections were first launched in 1993. Made from single pieces of high quality 100% polyester fabric, the innovation behind Pleats Please are that the clothes are first cut and sewn together two-and-a-half to three times larger than the finished garments. Individual pieces are hand fed into a heat press sandwiched between two sheets of paper. The garment then emerges with permanent pleats. This industrial process allows both texture and form to be created at the same time. Vertical, horizontal and zig-zag pleating is used to create varying effects and architectural shapes. Pleats Please clothes are very functional and practical; the garments store easily, travel well, require no ironing and can be machine-washed and dried within minutes. Shapes are simple, colours diverse. A set of standard colours is available each season, to which are added seasonal colours and prints.The Spring/Summer 2001 collection celebrates the world of natural light and shadow and includes the following ranges: Stitch Denim, Flower Garden, Stripe Montage and Side Wave.

Miyake's basic tenets for making clothes has always been the idea of creating a garment from 'one piece of cloth', and the exploration of the space between the human body and the cloth that covers it. His approach to design has always been to strike a consistent balance between tradition and innovation, handcrafts and new technology.