Lyrical Life-Wear. A tribute to the designer Issey Miyake

Initiated and conceived by Midori Kitamura, this definitive history of the life and work of Issey Miyake offers a unique insight into the designer’s vision and daring. With stunning photographs by Irving Penn, Yuriko Takagi and many others, the book is an encyclopedic reference to Miyake’s material and technical innovations from 1960 to 2022.

In 1983, Japanese designer Issey Miyake told The New Yorker that he aspired “to forge ahead, to break the mold.” With the boundary-defying fashion lines that followed, he not only broke molds, but recast clothing altogether. With a unique fusion of poetry and practicality, his creations blur the boundaries between tradition, modern technology, and everyday function.

This definitive history of Miyake’s clothes from 1960 to 2022 offers expert insight into the designer’s vision and daring. Initiated and conceived by Midori Kitamura, the book looks at the texture-driven originality of Miyake’s materials and techniques from the very earliest days of his career, before he had even established the Miyake Design Studio. Drawing on nearly 50 years of collaborative work with Miyake, Kitamura creates an encyclopedic reference of his material and technical innovations through the clothes based on A Piece of Cloth concept, Body Series of the 1980s, Miyake Pleats series, and such practical, everyday designs as Pleats Please pieces.

Stunning photographs capture his clothes in their particular quotidian originality. In her far-reaching essay, meanwhile, leading cultural figure Kazuko Koike offers both a complete chronology of Miyake’s work, and an unprecedented personal profile, looking at the ambition and inspirations that have driven his repertoire from tender teenage years. A must-have for designers, students, and fashion devotees, this is a timeless tribute to one of the most innovative makers of our age.

The designer:

Renowned clothing designer Issey Miyake (1938–2022) studied graphic design at Tama Art University, Tokyo, before founding the Miyake Design Studio in 1970, Miyake’s creative base for all his work. In 2007, Miyake opened the design facility 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, also in Tokyo.

The editor:

Midori Kitamura is chairman of the Miyake Design Studio and the Miyake Issey Foundation, and also president of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, working under Issey Miyake to develop collections, exhibitions, products, and publications, including Pleats Please Issey Miyake , also with TASCHEN. Kitamura directed the 2011 exhibition, Irving Penn and Issey Miyake: Visual Dialogue.

Texts by:

Kazuko Koike is the founder and director of Sagacho Exhibit Space in Tokyo. She has written and edited many books, including Issey Miyake East Meets West, Japanese Coloring, Japan Design, and Aura of Space. She is an Advisory Board member of MUJI.

The first large format book on the house of Mina Perhonen, one of the most profoundly Japanese of the women's lines to come out of Tokyo in the last three decades.

A unique blend of Scandinavian sensibility and Japanese, Mina Perhonen is characterized by a tenacious individuality that often contradicts the prevailing trends in Japanese high fashion with its emphasis on unmistakably feminine silhouettes and bright, minimalistic prints that have as much in common with the work of Alvar Aalto and Marimekko as they do with traditional Japanese design.

This thoughtfully designed volume gathers the most iconic work outputted by the fashion house in the last twenty years, highlighting the rich and witty world of Mina Perhonen. A combination of new and archival photography as well as a collection of the illustrations showcase Minagawa's subtle approach to design while critical essays by Issey Miyake and Susan Brown offer insightful commentary about Minagawa's work.

About the Author:

Akira Minagawa is a Japanese fashion and furniture designer and founder of Mina Perhonen. Issey Miyake is a Japanese fashion designer known for his technology-driven clothing designs. Susan Brown is the associate curator of the textile department of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

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Пролистать книгу Mina Perhonen: Ripples

In 1983, Japanese designer Issey Miyake told The New Yorker that he aspired “to forge ahead, to break the mould.

” With the boundary-defying fashion lines that followed, he not only broke moulds but recast clothing altogether. With a unique fusion of poetry and practicality, his creations blur the boundaries between tradition, modern technology, and everyday function.

This definitive history of Miyake’s clothes offers expert insight into the designer’s vision and daring. Initiated and conceived by Midori Kitamura, the book looks at the texture-driven originality of Miyake’s materials and techniques from the very earliest days of his career, before he had even established the Miyake Design Studio. Drawing on more than 40 years of collaborative work with Miyake, Kitamura creates an encyclopedic reference of his material and technical innovations through the clothes based on A Piece of Cloth concept, Body Series of the 1980s, Miyake Pleats series, and such practical, everyday designs as Pleats Please pieces.

Stunning photographs from Miyake’s contemporary Yuriko Takagi capture his clothes in their particular quotidian originality, including a breathtaking shoot in Iceland. In her far-reaching essay, meanwhile, leading cultural figure Kazuko Koike offers both a complete chronology of Miyake’s work, and an unprecedented personal profile, looking at the ambition and inspirations that have driven his repertoire from tender teenage years. A must-have for designers, students, and fashion devotees, this is a timeless tribute to one of the most innovative makers of our age.

This “spectacular tribute to a designer of breathtaking grace and originality” (Threads) is the definitive volume on the legendary Madeleine Vionnet’s life and work.

Now back in print with a fresh new cover, this reissue marks the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the House of Vionnet and the revival of the Vionnet brand. Lavishly illustrated in over 400 photographs, sketches, and with complete patterns for 30 of the most influential designs of this architect among dressmakers, this exquisite volume is an essential reference for fashion students and a vibrant portrait of a grande dame of 20th-century couture.

This book celebrates a remarkable achievement - the successful cooperation between one of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, Irving Penn, and the Japanese designer Issey Miyake. Together they have managed not only to combine the Occident with the Orient but raise fashion to the status of art. The result is classical and futuristic at once, their fruitful encounter achieving a remarkable stylistic symbiosis.

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Der japanische Modedesigner Issey Miyake hat einen Sonderstatus. Das liegt nicht zuletzt auch daran, dass er für «Mode» nichts übrig hat, das Wort «Designer» für unzutreffend hält und sich lieber als «Kleiderfabrikant» bezeichnet. Aber macht der heute 61jährige Entwerfer wirklich nur Kleider? «Making Things» hiess seine letzte Ausstellung (NZZ 6. 1. 99): Als (Kunst-)Gegenstände sind denn auch Miyakes Kreationen seit den späten siebziger Jahren immer wieder in Museen gezeigt worden. 

In seinen fast 200 Aufnahmen, die seit 1986 entstanden und von denen jetzt 112 im Bildband «Irving Penn betrachtet das Werk von Issey Miyake» veröffentlicht worden sind, begreift auch der Photograph Irving Penn Miyakes Kleider als Kunstgegenstände. Das Buch hält, was sein Titel verspricht, mehr aber auch nicht. Der einleitende Essay kann weder inhaltlich noch sprachlich befriedigen. Vergeblich sucht man eine Erklärung für jene Photos, auf denen eine Etappe aus dem Entstehungsprozess eines Kleidungsstücks abgebildet ist. Dabei sind die vielfältigen, originellen Methoden, mit einem (Roh-)Stoff umzugehen, Miyakes Markenzeichen; ohne Erläuterungen vermag man auf besagten Abbildungen oft nicht mehr zu erkennen als verknotete Taschentücher oder dreifarbige Metallstreifen. Auch was die fertigen Kleider betrifft, hätte man ein paar Angaben zu den Materialien, den Models usw. erwartet.

Doch wo die Form zu wünschen übriglässt, beglückt der Inhalt. Penn, der sowohl Traumfrauen für «Vogue» als auch Eingeborenenstämme in Neuguinea oder Dahomey photographiert hat, betrachtet Miyakes Kleider wie selbständige Wesen mit einem magischen Eigenleben. Eine Form von Animismus schwingt mit. Das Model tritt demgegenüber zurück: Arme und Beine sind entweder gar nicht zu sehen oder in grotesken, rituellen, in jedem Fall unnatürlichen Stellungen; die Gesichter werden bald durch eine Kapuze, bald durch eine Perücke verdeckt oder zu Masken geschminkt. Das widerspricht zwar Miyakes Wunsch, dass seine Kreationen wie eine zweite Haut wirken sollten, fördert jedoch deren expressives Potential zutage, das im Suggestiven, Märchenhaft-Verwunschenen wurzelt. 

So wirkt das Buch wie ein Reigen von mysteriösen, keck-ironischen, manchmal auch beängstigenden, stets aber hoch individualisierten Kreaturen aus (viel) Stoff und (ein wenig) Haut: Ritter in schwarzglänzenden Papierrüstungen mit riesigen Halskrausen, breitbeinige Clowns mit aufblasbaren Spitzhüten aus Plastic, ein Plüschaffe mit grossen, kakaofarbenen Gürteltaschen zum Bananensammeln, ein hautfarbener Ganzkörperbody mit aufgedruckten Tattoo-Mustern, ein abstrakt-silberner, plissierter Weihnachtsbaum. Stoffe, so ursprünglich wie Erde, so zart wie Spinnweben. Als letztes Bild ein Anzug aus der (wie der Bildband verschweigt) «Starburst»-Linie von 1998: Recycling-Kleider für Grossstadtastronauten, mit aufgepressten Metallblättern, goldbronzen schimmernd. Zum Auf-den-Mond-Fliegen.

112 colour plates and 22 illustrations

- This book celebrates a remarkable achievement - the successful cooperation between one of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, Irving Penn, and the Japanese designer Issey Miyake. Together they have managed not only to combine the Occident with the Orient but raise fashion to the status of art. The result is classical and futuristic at once, their fruitful encounter achieving a remarkable stylistic symbiosis.
- Issey Miyake's Kleider in Photographien von Irving Penn