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The fashion world lost a visionary last week with the death of Japanese designer Issey Miyake. At 84 years old, he oversaw an arch of fashion that led him to become one of the first Japanese designers to show on a Paris runway. And his dedication to creating clothing for everyone—not just the elite—led to a global following that earned him Japan’s Order of Culture award in 2010, the country’s highest honor for the arts.
It is, perhaps, rare for a designer to be so distinctively known for the textural aspect of their clothing, but nothing defines Miyake’s work more than his Pleats Please collectsion. These micro-pleated pieces have a fluid, elegant ease and are made without zippers, snaps, or anything too constraining. And, in a miracle of fabric technology, the pleats will hold their shape no matter if they’re balled up, packed in a bag, or run through the washing machine.
Miyake believed in the practicality of clothing. In his book Pleats Please, he wrote that clothes “must bestow freedom on those who wear them.” It comes as no surprise, then, that his basic black turtleneck became the signature style of Steve Jobs. A personal favorite Miyake memory: Mary Kate Olsen wearing a vintage Miyake gown to the 2013 CFDA Fashion Awards.
Aside from the popularity of his pleats, there was a time in the early 2000s when everyone in the know was toting an origami-like Issey Miyake Bao Bao bag, a style that feels so futuristic that it's seen a recent resurgence with the Y2K trends.
Miyake’s fusion of high design and fashion leaves a legacy we won’t soon forget.
