Fashion designer Issey Miyake was born on April 22, 1938, in Hiroshima Prefecture. He enrolled in the Department of Design at Tama Art University. In 1960, when Japan held its first World Design Conference, he drew attention by sending a question to the secretariat asking, "Why isn't clothing design included?" After graduating in 1963, he presented his first collection, "Poetry of Fabric and Stone." In 1965, he traveled to Paris to study haute couture, gaining experience at Guy Laroche and Givenchy. He moved to New York in 1969 and returned to Japan six months later. In 1970, he established the Miyake Design Office. In February 1971, he presented the first collection for the ISSEY MIYAKE brand in New York. In November of the same year, he established Issey Miyake International Inc. (now Issey Miyake Inc.) as a subsidiary to plan, produce, and sell apparel. In March 1973, he presented his 73AW collection at the Paris Collection. His first shop opened in Aoyama, Tokyo in March 1974. In 1988, he held his solo exhibition "ISSEY MIYAKE A-ŪN" in Paris, and around that time he began creating clothing using pleats. In 1993, he established the "PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE" brand. He continued to pursue clothing as a product, and in 1998, he began developing "A-POC (Piece of Cloth)" with Dai Fujiwara. In 2007, he launched a new project, "Reality Lab." In 2004, he established the Miyake Issey Design Foundation. In addition to preserving the Issey Miyake archives, the foundation also fosters talent and supports young designers. In 2007, the foundation opened 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT at Tokyo Midtown. Miyake has served as a director alongside Taku Satoh, Naoto Fukasawa, and Noriko Kawakami.
He has received numerous awards, including the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, the highest rank of France (1991), a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (1993), an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in the UK (1993), and the Order of Culture (2010).