TOKYO, Aug  9, 2022 (BSS/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 August 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."

The designer studied at an art school in Tokyo, and moved to Paris in 1965,
where he studied at the elite Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture
Parisienne.

He established the Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo in 1970, and soon
afterwards opened his first Paris boutique.

By the 1980s, his career was in full swing as he experimented with
materials from plastic to metal wire and even artisanal Japanese paper.

Among his inventions were the "Pleats Please" line, permanently pleated
items which do not crease, the futuristic triangles of his "Bao Bao" bag, and
his "A-POC (A Piece Of Cloth)" concept -- using computers to cut whole garments
with no seams.

He also made more than 100 black turtlenecks for Apple co-founder Steve
Jobs.