Issey Miyake Japanese fashion designer

After talking about my research to my teacher, Ms Selena. She suggested a designer to me. His name is Issey Miyake. A Japanese fashion designer born in Hiroshima, Japan in April 1938. Miyake had an aspiration of being a fashion designer .

 In 1959 he enrolled in a graphic arts course at Tokyo’s famous Tama Art University.
In 1965 – he moved to Paris to fulfil his dream. Issey Miyake portrait Miyake’s first fashion show in Paris in 1973 was a hit and by ’79, he had set up an arm of his design house in France. Following his graduation he worked for Guy Laroche and then Givenchy. Miyake opened the Miyake Design Studio (MDS) in 1970 and the following year he opened Miyake International Inc. and showed his first collection both in Tokyo and New York. By the end of the decade he had a design company in France and the early eighties saw him do the same in the United States. The major influence on Miyake’s early collections it is said was traditional Japanese folkwear and his use of pleats. A Miyake trademark is the innovative use of both traditional and synthetic fabrics.

Sketches from Miyake

Reflection
Miyake's designs and fashion styles interest me because it reminds me of anatomy. On the second picture above: Bones is what i thought of with it's edgy stiff look, it reminds me of how bones decompose and it's still beautiful. The third and forth picture: I really like the cutting and outline of it. How flowly and graceful it is. And the last one, he used pleats for a tradition japanese wear. It reminds me of the human skin with it's nude pastel pink colour and how it's oversized. As AOI is human  ingenuity, i want to help people to express how they feel through fashion. After studying each collection, I noticed how there is a constant flow and that is something i like about his style. By using the same concept with simply too many styles. Now, i am inspired and i want to find out and study other designers design how they design and why did they design the way they did.


Books
Books East Meets West, edited by Kazuko Koide and Ikko Tanaka, Tokyo,1978. Bodyworks, edited by Shozo Tsurumoto, Tokyo, 1983. Issey Miyake and Miyake Design Studio 1970-1985, Tokyo, 1985. Pleats Please, Tokyo, 1990. Inspired Flower Arrangements, with Toshiro Kawase, Tokyo, 1990. Madeleine Vionnet, with Betty Kirke, San Francisco, 1998. Making Things, Paris, 1999. Phoenix Art Museum, A New Wave in Fashion: Three Japanese Designers [exhibition catalogue], Phoenix, 1983. Koren, Leonard, New Fashion Japan, Tokyo and New York, 1984. Milbank, Caroline Rennolds, Couture: The Great Designers, NewYork, 1985. Sparke, Penny, Japanese Design, London, 1987. Calloway, Nicholas, ed., Issey Miyake: Photographs by Irving Penn, Boston, 1988. Coleridge, Nicholas, The Fashion Conspiracy, London, 1988. Howell, Georgina, Sultans of Style: Thirty Years of Fashion and Passion 1960-1990, London, 1990. Miyake Design Studio, eds., Ten Sen Men, Tokyo, 1990. Miyake Design Studio, eds., Issey Miyake by Irving Penn 1991-1992, Tokyo, 1992. Miyake Design Studio, eds., Issey Miyake by Irving Penn 1993-1995, Tokyo, 1995. Hiesinger, Kathryn B., and Felice Fischer, Japanese Design: A Survey Since 1950, New York, 1995. Jouve, Marie-Andrée, Issey Miyake, New York, 1997. Holborn, Mark, introduction, Irving Penn Regards the Work of Issey Miyake: Photographs 1975-1998, Boston, 1999. Watson, Linda, Vogue Twentieth Century Fashion: 100 Years of Style by Decade and Designer, London, 1999. Articles Lewis, J., "The Man Who Put Show in Fashion Shows," in the Far East Economic Review (Hong Kong), 22 January 1979. Bancou, M., "Issey Miyake Revisited," in American Fabrics & Fashions (Columbia, SC), Spring 1979. "Issey Miyake," in the New Yorker, 8 and 15 November 1982. "Issey Miyake," in Art and Design (London), March 1985. Popham, Peter, "The Emperor's New Clothes," in Blueprint (London), March 1985. "Issey Miyake's Bodyworks, " in Domus (Milan), May 1985. White, Lesley, "Miyake's Marvelous But Issey Art," in Cosmopolitan (London), August 1985. "Issey Miyake: Dateless Fashion," in Art and Design (London),October 1986. Angel, Sally, "Zen and the Art of Fashion," in Blueprint, October 1987. Knafo, Robert, "Issey Miyake is Changing the Way Men View Clothes," in Connoisseur (New York), March 1988. "Eye of the Artists: Issey Miyake," in Vogue, October 1988. Brampton, Sally, "Modern Master," in Elle (London), June 1989. Martin, Richard, "The Cubism of Issey Miyake," in Textile & Text (New York), 12/4, 1990. Penn, Irving, and Ingrid Sischy, "Pleats Please," in Interview, September 1990. Tilton, Mary, "Issey Miyake: Designer for the Millennium," in Threads (Newtown, CT), June/July 1991. Gross, Michael, "Issey Does It," in New York, 22 July 1991. Bucks, Suzy, "Clothes That Grow on You," in the Independent on Sunday (London), 3 July 1994. Spindler, Amy M., "Art or Vanity? Fashion's Ambiguity," in the New York Times, 13 December 1994. Schiro, Anne-Marie, "Photogenic, But Out of Focus," in the New York Times, 20 March 1995. Menkes, Suzy, "Show, Not Clothes, Becomes the Message," in the International Herald Tribune, 20 March 1995. Wood, Dana, "Miyake's Lust for Life," in WWD, 18 December 1996. Edelson, Sharon, "Miyake Rides SoHo Wave," in WWD, 27 August 1997. Simon, Joan, "Miyake Modern," in Art in America (New York), 2February 1999. Dam, Julie, "Issey Miyake," in Time International, 23 August 1999. Edelson, Sharon, "Miyake Moves Downtown: New Store, NewConcept," in WWD, 19 July 2000. Read more: Issey Miyake - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia - clothing, century, men, dress, style, new, body, history, collection, designs, world http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Ma-Mu/Miyake-Issey.html#b#ixzz1y7HEwHUp Read more: Issey Miyake - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia - clothing, century, men, dress, style, new, body, history, collection, designs, world http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Ma-Mu/Miyake-Issey.html#b#ixzz1y7H0cYTa

Source: http://toffsworld.com/fashion/issey-miyake/
http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Ma-Mu/Miyake-Issey.html#b
http://mds.isseymiyake.com/im/en/work/
http://www.hairstyle2011.co.cc/2011/03/issey-miyake-fashion.html
http://jessicamichault.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/MIYA_AW11_0075.jpg
http://www.elle.com/var/legacy_images/image/2007/W40/100220071532287177_runway.jpg

Fashion figure terminology

I followed the book "Figure Poses For Fashion Illustrators". Instead of tracing now, I drew free handed with the guide of the book. I did the fashion figure terminology. When i did grid lines i noticed i gained more knowledge about drawing figures instead of just tracing them. A sense of accomplishment filled me as i finished the figure drawing on my own. Thinking that i'm just another step closer to my goal, being a fashion designer.



/////////// SCAN FASHION FIGURE TERMINOLOGY

Wardrobe sketch

I did a sketch of my wardrobe to practice my drawing and pen sketching skills and i did it within 20 minutes. I used a Uniball Signo DX 0.38 black pen.

///////////////SCAN THE DRAWING

Steps to designing clothes

Confused and lost were to begin, i went to google on "Steps to designing clothes". I was brought to this website that tells me what to do and i found it really helpful. I guess i am going to follow closely to these set of rules.

Drawing and Sketching

• Fashion sketching and technical drawing play a vital role in designing clothes.Drawing is the first step to committing your vision to reality. First of all, if you don't already know how to draw, you need to learn. Take a drawing or art class, read books teaching how to draw fashion, and most of all, practice!

Here are the basic steps involved in sketching your designs:

1. Use a pencil for beginning sketches so you can fix and refine as you sketch. Later you can do final sketches in pen and in color, if you desire.
2. Draw a rough sketch of the human form. The body can be in any pose you like, but when a beginner, you may want to draw the arms akimbo.2 If you're not comfortable with your drawing ability, you can use a template of the body.3 That way you just have to worry about sketching your designs. Simply place semi-transparent paper(tracing paper) over a body template, trace the body and then sketch your designs.4You can buy or make your own templates.5
3. Decide what type of garment you are going to sketch (e.g., blouse, skirt, pants, etc.).
4. Draw the garment the way the model would wear it in real life. Think about how the fabric would drape and fall.6
5. Fine tune your sketch, darkening the lines. Give your model hair, shoes and/or accessories. Make sure he or she has personality!7
6. Now you can bring your sketch to life with details and even color. To color in your sketch:
   1. Choose your color palette and select your colored pencils.
   2. Outline the garment, making sure to trace the seam lines.8
   3. Carefully color in the garment.
   4. Add shading to provide depth.9
   5. Add any pattern details. Feel free to include notes about color, style, technique, structure, fabric, etc.1011

• For a more detailed look at learning how to draw, check out Mahalo's How to Drawpage. If you just don't have drawing skills no matter how hard you try, don't give up on designing clothes. Instead apply your ideas directly to the dress form and takePolaroids.12

Source : http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-design-clothes/

Inspirations

After flipping through the book "Atlas of Fashion Designers", every designer were interviewed and asked the same question, "What inspires you".
These are a few examples:

"Inspiration usually doesn't stray too far from home. It's my friends, the streets and music. I try not to push too hard to find inspiration because it is usually right under my nose" 
- Alexander Wang

"I find everything inspires me, mainly music, people and photography. I don't think it's hard to get inspired!"
- Kim Jones

"All kinds of art form, volume, playing with proportion and ambiguity. i am searching for an emotional response to a garment, an overall impression to like or dislike through a detail invisible to a novice eye and which distinguishes one piece form another. Colours and fabric inspires me, as well, as hey have that amazing power to reinforce and magnify to go with an idea or to tone it down"
- Katarzyna Szczotarska 

That really got me thinking what actually inspires me. Hence, i went to do a mind map in my recently bought sketch book.

I guess what really inspires me is my everyday life. Just like every other mainstream designers answers, i would say indie music, art forms and my past struggles would inspire me too. However sadness, pain, any negative emotions are the best time that allows me to create good piece of art. It feels like i have a place to escape reality into a place where i can control things. Example my brush strokes, the tonal value, where i wanna move my pen. Hence i want to deviate to a different direction. I want to narrow my thoughts.

Recently, i was taught the human body during Biology lesson and instantly i found anatomy interesting.   Thinking of more ideas and i thought about chemistry. And i remembered Ms Selena (my chemistry teacher) lessons. The vivid ones were about chemical bonding, about diffusing both elements together. I decided to go with my first idea. I want to relate my apparel to some characteristic of the human body. I haven't figure out what am i exactly going to do but i will figure out on my way there.

Sketch book

Sketch books are a great way of keeping track of ideas. This visual journals are used for reminding, recording and developing fresh ideas. It is also use perfectly for practicing drawing skills and to experiment mediums. Some of the most successful artists in history have kept sketchbooks diligently. For example Picasso and DaVinci. Therefore i think i should invest in a sketch book. Even though i am left with 9 more days to the due date i will record thoughts and ideas i have in it.


I bought my sketch book from Muji later on today.

Library visit

Headed down to the library at Nex on 12/June/2012 evening to research more about fashion designing. After rummaging shelves of books for 45 minutes, i borrowed 4 books that hopefully will be useful to me.


1. Figure Poses For Fashion Illustrators

I borrowed this book because i had difficulty with the fashion figures and this book allows me to trace the figure templates. Life is then made simpler for me as time is not on my side. 9 days to submission and i'm starting to panic.


2. Fashion Design Essentials

This book is helpful to me because it teaches me the fundamentals to fashion designing. Such as the five primary areas of investigation and how it cultivates creativity. The primary areas are thought, inventory, technique,artistry and navigation.


3. The Poetry of Fashion Design

4. Atlas of Fashion Designers

 Lastly, i borrowed both books with similar content. It shows pictures of designed apparels by designers. Hopefully i will be able to draw out some inspiration from it.

For the next few days, i will be studying these few books trying to gain knowledge and inspiration through these pages.

(All pictures were taken from my iphone app: Instagram)