A biography for Issey Miyakehasn’t been written yet.
“I tried never to be defined by my past.”
“The combination of human skills with technology will always be at the root of any solution to the future of making clothes.”
“I believe that all forms of creativity are related.”
“Of course there are many ways we can reuse something. We can dye it. We can cut it. We can change the buttons. Those are other ways to make it alive. But this is a new step to use anything - hats, socks, shirts. It's the first step in the process.”
“The core spirit of Pleats Please is joy, and what better emotion to wear on your skin every day?”
“By the way, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14.”
“I am not sentimental about the past. I like to think about what is next.”
“I became a fashion designer to make clothes for the people, not to be a top couturier in the French tradition.”
“I am not really interested in clothing as a conceptual art form.”
“I gravitated towards the field of clothing design, partly because it is a creative format that is modern and optimistic.”
“The purpose - where I start - is the idea of use. It is not recycling, it's reuse.”
“I sent 200, 300 of the clothes that I had made, and the dancers chose what they liked.”
“Think of things that can be created, not destroyed, and that bring beauty and joy.”
“I am very interested in the culture of paper.”
“With imagination and personal creativity, people who sew can design the way they look to suit themselves.”
“I like women who have their own idea of life: the woman who is assured, comfortable with herself, strong inside, proud of herself - not in an arrogant way, not showing off.”
“My fascination has been the space between cloth and the body, and using a two-dimensional element to clothe a three-dimensional form.”
“The future of fashion is light, durable clothes.”
“Architects always have a feel for time - the generation they live in - as we do, and they are always striving toward boundless adventure.”
“I never thought fashion was the job for me, because I'm Japanese. Clothes! That was a European, society thing.”