He designed Steve Jobs’ sweater: Issey Miyake died

(Reuters)

Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake has died of cancer at the age of 84, according to media reports. Known for his pleated style in clothing, he designed the signature black turtleneck sweater for his friend Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple.

Miyake’s name became synonymous with Japan’s commercial and fashion success in the 1980s. He died of liver cancer on August 5, according to the Kyodo news agency. Further details were not initially known.

fashion instead of sports

As a teenager, Miyake reportedly wanted to be a dancer or an athlete. Reading his sister’s fashion magazines inspired him to change direction. But the reason for the freedom of movement that his clothing made possible is seen in the original interests.

Miyake was born in Hiroshima. As a seven-year-old, he was sitting in a classroom when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city. In later life he was reluctant to talk about this event. “When I close my eyes, I still see things that no one should ever see,” he wrote in the New York Times in 2009 as part of a campaign to persuade then-US President Barack Obama to visit the city . Miyake’s mother died within three years of complications from the radiation. “I’ve tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to put it behind me and prefer to think of things to create rather than destroy.”

Companion of Laroche and Givenchy

Miyake studied graphic design at an art university in Tokyo, after which he studied clothing design in Paris. There he worked with Guy Laroche and Hubert de Givenchy before moving to New York. In 1970 he returned to Tokyo and founded the Miyake Design Studio.

In the late 1980s, he developed a new way of pleating: Miyake wrapped fabric between layers of paper and placed it in a heat press. The garments thus retained their folded shape. This method was tested on dancers for freedom of movement and led to the development of his signature “Pleats, Please” line.

watches and perfumes

Eventually, Miyake developed more than a dozen clothing lines, from his main Issey Miyake line for men and women to bags, watches and perfumes. From 1997 he devoted himself primarily to research.

When asked in 2016 what he thinks the challenges for future designers are, he told the British newspaper The Guardian that people will probably consume less. “We may have to go through a thinning process. That’s important, »he was quoted as saying. “In Paris we call the people who make clothes couturiers – they design new clothes – but actually the designer’s job is to design something that works in real life.”