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Legendary Japanese designer Issey Miyake has passed away aged 84.

According to a statement from the Issey Miyake Group, the Hiroshima-born creative died of liver cancer in a Tokyo hospital, on August 5, 2022.

Miyake – who studied graphic design at Tokyo’s Tama Art University – found his feet in the world of fashion working behind the scenes for the likes of Guy Laroche, Hubert de Givenchy, and Geoffrey Beene, before founding his eponymous label in 1970.

After presenting his debut collection the following year, Miyake opened his first studio in the Japanese capital of Tokyo in 1973, showing his clothing with a group fashion show in Paris the following year.

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Together with fellow Japanese designers Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, Miyake was thrust into in the fashion spotlight in the 1980s.

Like his peers, Miyake's brand become indicative of fashion's new avant-garde, garnering himself a reputation for his forward-thinking and innovative design philosophy. Miyake's wrapped look later became his signature, as did high-tech fabric experimentation that lead to sub-labels like Pleats Please and APOC (A Piece of Cloth).

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Miyake was permanently embedded into pop culture through his friendship with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, for whom Miyake designed a black turtleneck that would become part of Jobs' uniform.

Jobs commissioned Miyake to design a corporate outfit for Apple employees afterwards, but the designs went unused after employees roundly rejected the garments.

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Like many designers, Miyake's company boasts an impressive line of fragrances, too.

His first release back was back in 1992 in the form of the L'eau d'Issey, a women’s perfume, before a men’s iteration followed in the L'eau d'Issey Pour Homme two years later.

Alongside Issey Miyake mainline and Issey Miyake Perfumes, the designer's eponymous company brought to life a handful of other sub-labels, which included HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE, Bao Bao Issey Miyake, and HaaT. Miyake's imprint also managed the Miyake Issey Foundation and A-net, Inc., a management company for independent Japanese designer.

Issey Miyake Inc. operates nearly 300 stores across the globe, with 136 of its retail outlets located in Japan alone.

It’s also been reported that as per the designer’s request, there will be no funeral or memorial service.

This story will be updated as it develops.

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