Issey Miyake Quotes

Retire? Never! We are far too busy!

I am most interested in people and the human form.

Indian paper is famous, Egyptian papyrus, Chinese paper… every country has used this natural material. But the problem is it’s going to run out because it’s very difficult work.

My design is no design.

I tried never to be defined by my past.

The joining of the Japanese with the French should make a new movement. I think it should be good for Paris.

I sent 200, 300 of the clothes that I had made, and the dancers chose what they liked.

Our goals must be to find new, environmentally-friendly ways by which to continue the art of creation, to utilize our valuable human skills, and to make things that will bring joy.

Clothes should fit comfortably – not too tightly – so that you have space to move in and think freely.

A few of the influences on my career so far have been Isamu Noguchi, Irving Penn, and seeing the riots of 1968 in Paris.

I never thought fashion was the job for me, because I’m Japanese. Clothes! That was a European, society thing.

Many people repeat the past. I’m not interested. I prefer evolution.

A-POC respects that there is a fine balance between the value of the human touch, which can be called artisanal, and the abilities of technology. I like to think of it as poesy and technology.

I realised I wanted to make clothing which was as universal as jeans and T-shirts.

I try to be free. The women also must be free.

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.

There are no boundaries for what can be fabric.

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.

I make clothing, and I don’t care about trendy things.

A-POC unleashes the freedom of imagination. It’s for people who are curious, who have inner energy – the energy of life and living.

Most of us feel some kind of uncertainty, with the population increasing and resources decreasing. We have to face these issues.

When I first began working in Japan, I had to confront the Japanese people’s excessive worship for foreign goods and the fixed idea of what clothes ought to be. I wanted to change the rigid formula of clothing that the Japanese followed.

I was always interested in making clothing that is worn by people in the real world.

I feel it is urgently necessary to train people who are capable of tackling the various problems we face today in regards to environmental turmoil and the relevancy of clothing.

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.

Indian clothes are usually tight.

I became a fashion designer to make clothes for the people, not to be a top couturier in the French tradition.

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

The purpose – where I start – is the idea of use. It is not recycling, it’s reuse.

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!’

In Paris, we call the people who make clothing ‘couturiers’ – they develop new clothing items – but actually, the work of designing is to make something that works in real life.

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.

All of my work stems from the simplest of ideas that go back to the earliest civilizations: making clothing from one piece of cloth. It is my touchstone.

Work for money, design for love.

I’d rather look to the future than to the past.

Polyester is easy to work with and results in clothing that is well suited to the needs of a modern lifestyle.

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

By the way, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14.

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 respect men and women who age and are proud and don’t lose energy. I think fashion forgot those people.

In the Eighties, Japanese fashion designers brought a new type of creativity; they brought something Europe didn’t have. There was a bit of a shock effect, but it probably helped the Europeans wake up to a new value.

Clothing has been called intimate architecture. We want to go beyond that.

I very much like dance and dancers.

From the beginning I thought about working with the body in movement, the space between the body and clothes. I wanted the clothes to move when people moved. The clothes are also for people to dance or laugh.

In fashion, you need to present something new every six months, but it takes time to study things. Development is very important.

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.

You see it in the many bouncing clothes that are not just pleats. To make them, two or three people twist them – twist, twist, twist the pleats, sometimes three or four persons twist together and put it all in the machine to cook it.

My fascination has been the space between cloth and the body, and using a two-dimensional element to clothe a three-dimensional form.

Paul Poiret did wonderful things because he was so influenced by motifs, but Vionnet really understood the kimono and took the geometric idea to construct her clothes – and that brought such freedom into European clothes in the 1920s.

We can also cut by heat – heat punch. And we also can cut by cold – extreme cold. When you cut with heat, it makes a mark. With cold, no mark. It depends on the fabric.

From the beginning I thought about working with the body in movement, the space between the body and clothes. I wanted the clothes to move when people moved. The clothes are also for people to dance or laugh

Designers must be increasingly sensitive to our Earth’s dwindling resources. It is our responsibility.

I started to work with cotton fabrics. I used cotton because it’s easy to work with, to wash, to take care of, to wear if it’s warm or cold. It’s great. That was the start.

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.

We yearn for the beautiful, the unknown, and the mysterious.

Clothing is the closest thing to all humans.

I believe that all forms of creativity are related.

I am not really interested in clothing as a conceptual art form.

We have to keep a very tight check on quality.

I did not want to be labelled ‘the designer who survived the atomic bomb,’ and therefore I have always avoided questions about Hiroshima.

The combination of human skills with technology will always be at the root of any solution to the future of making clothes.

Beauty is like a sunset: it goes as soon as you try to capture it. The beauty you like is precisely that which escapes you.

Technology allows us to do many things, but it is always important to combine it with traditional handcrafts and, in fact, use technology to replicate dying arts so that they are not lost.

Many people will say, well, clothes should be worn; but I think people can look at them in public, like seeing a film. I think museum exhibitions are very important

My generation in Japan lived in limbo. We dreamed between two worlds.

I am always looking to the future of making things.

I have worked with several dance companies.

The future of fashion is light, durable clothes.

Paris is an old and traditional place; it needs new blood.

Clothes have become more personal, more a matter of very individual taste.

A great thing happening now in art is that artists are using the figure, the body, clothing, life.

I gravitated towards the field of clothing design, partly because it is a creative format that is modern and optimistic.

Even when I work with computers, with high technology, I always try to put in the touch of the hand.

I did not want to be labelled the designer who survived the atomic bomb, and therefore I have always avoided questions about Hiroshima.