Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake dies at 84

TOKYO (AFP) — Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, whose global career spanned more than half a century, has died aged 84, an employee at his office in Tokyo told AFP on Tuesday.

“He died on the evening of Aug. 5,” she said over the telephone, without giving further details of his death and declining to be named.

Miyake’s funeral had already taken place, with “only relatives participating” in line with his wishes, and there were no plans for a public ceremony, she said.

Public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media reported the news of his death, with the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and other outlets saying he had died of liver cancer.

Miyake — who pioneered high-tech, comfortable clothing — was part of a wave of young Japanese designers who made their mark in Paris from the mid-1970s.

The French fashion federation paid tribute to Miyake on Tuesday, saying “he was the first foreign designer to show at Paris Fashion Week in April 1974.”

Miyake “contributed, with unwavering commitment, to the influence of Paris Fashion Week from its beginning,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.

Miyake’s fashion house nurtured many talented young designers, and was known for innovative and dazzling catwalk shows.

After two years of showcasing collections online or with installations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the brand made its live comeback at Paris Fashion Week in June with a men’s show featuring models, dancers and acrobats.

Born in Hiroshima in 1938, he was seven years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city in August 1945.

He survived the blast, which killed an estimated 140,000 people on impact and led to the end of World War II after the bombing of Nagasaki three days later.

“I have never chosen to share my memories or thoughts of that day,” Miyake wrote in the New York Times in 2009.

“I have tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to put them behind me, preferring to think of things that can be created, not destroyed, and that bring beauty and joy.”