A biography for Issey Miyakehasn’t been written yet.
“Boys have been wearing skirts for some time now. My three assistants wear mini skirts. They come to work on their motorcycles wearing mini skirts. The French saw the idea on the streets and have done it in better fabrics, and now everyone says, 'Ah!'”
“I always wanted to create clothing that was universal - easy to wear, to care for, and that was also beautiful. As such, I became interested in polyester, and its potential, from the beginning of my career.”
“I very much like dance and dancers.”
“I make clothing, and I don't care about trendy things.”
“I am neither a writer nor a theorist. For a person who creates things to utter too many words means to regulate himself - a frightening prospect.”
“Polyester is easy to work with and results in clothing that is well suited to the needs of a modern lifestyle.”
“The important thing is to make something. In reality, it's not important that a designer be known by name - you can remain anonymous. Even the status of a designer will undergo changes, I believe.”
“My generation in Japan lived in limbo. We dreamed between two worlds.”
“Clothes have become more personal, more a matter of very individual taste.”
“One of my assistants found this old German machine. It was originally used to make underwear. Like Chanel, who started with underwear fabric - jerseys - we used the machine that made underwear to make something else.”
“I respect men and women who age and are proud and don't lose energy. I think fashion forgot those people.”
“I was always interested in making clothing that is worn by people in the real world.”
“Clothes should fit comfortably - not too tightly - so that you have space to move in and think freely.”
“We yearn for the beautiful, the unknown, and the mysterious.”
“In the past, art was admired and revered from afar. Today, there is more of an interactive relationship between the art and the person who admires it.”
“When I close my eyes, I still see things no one should ever experience: a bright red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in every direction trying desperately to escape - I remember it all.”
“A-POC unleashes the freedom of imagination. It's for people who are curious, who have inner energy - the energy of life and living.”
“Design is a vital component to the enrichment of our everyday lives. Japan has a very rich history and culture of design, and I feel it is a very important dialogue to open and keep evolving.”
“I did not want to be labelled 'the designer who survived the atomic bomb,' and therefore I have always avoided questions about Hiroshima.”
“Many people repeat the past. I'm not interested. I prefer evolution.”