The Founder of ISSEY MIYAKE Parfums Dies at 84

Abstract: The well-known Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake died of cancer, whose eponymous perfume had won the best packaging award for women's perfume.

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According to several media reports, the famous Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake died on August 5 at the age of 84. The cause of death was hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer, according to a brief release Tuesday from the Miyake Design Studio and the Issey Miyake Group.

To public information, in 1938, Issey Miyake was born in Hiroshima City, Japan. After graduating from high school, he moved to Tokyo and trained as a graphic designer and graduated from the Tama University of Fine Arts in Tokyo. After graduating from university, he went to Paris, France for further study and worked as an assistant to Givenchy in 1968.

In 1970, Issey Miyake returned to Japan and established the Issey Miyake Studio. In the following year, he founded the brand ISSEY MIYAKE. From "a piece of cloth" to "pleated" design, it became a world-renowned fashion brand. ISSEY MIYAKE's "baobao" bag series once became a "must-have" in the market, especially since the rhombus bag is highly sought after. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is also a fan of Miyake. Miyake was asked by Steve Jobs to design his iconic turtle neck jumpers and reportedly made 100 of them, at $175 each.

In the beauty field, ISSEY MIYAKE also had bright results. ISSEY MIYAKE signed a licensing agreement in 1991 with Shiseido Co. to produce his first women's fragrance. It was the debut scent to be manufactured by Beauté Prestige International, or BPI, a Paris affiliate set up by Shiseido in 1992. Beauté Prestige International S.A. was created in October 1990 by the Shiseido Group, BPI's sole shareholder, to augment Shiseido's fragrance business with the development of new designer fragrance brands. The BPI had been operating Dolce & Gabbana fragrances, among other businesses.

After Shiseido took over the operation, "ISSEY MIYAKE Parfums" can be said to have a bright development in industrialization. Capital from a beauty giant Shiseido has given it unprecedented support in research and development, production, and marketing.

It is worth noting that ISSEY MIYAKE's first fragrance for women, L’Eau d’Issey won numerous prizes, including a Fragrance Foundation FiFi for best women’s introduction in Europe in 1993. L'Eau d'Issey is known for its unique bottle design, which is inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, with timeless classic minimalist lines giving the bottle a pure and natural look. According to Stylecraze, Issey Miyake L'Eau D'Issey Eau De Toilette is one of the top 1 best Japanese perfumes in 2022.

Since then, ISSEY MIYAKE has launched a series of men's and women's fragrances, among which the men's fragrances "Fusion D’issey", "L’eau D’issey Pour Homme" and Muit D’issey" have gained unprecedented popularity. Currently, ISSEY MIYAKE has personal care, perfume, and international SA products that are sold in about 120 countries around the world. The main focus is on individual fragrances, mixing natural and elegant elements.

It is reported that ISSEY MIYAKE's first offline boutique clothing store arrived in China in November 2013, which is located in Shin Kong Place, a luxury brand gathering place in Beijing. Subsequently, ISSEY MIYAKE's fragrance business also entered China. Currently, ISSEY MIYAKE currently has offline fragrance stores in Nanjing, Suzhou and others etc.

In 2021, Issey Miyake launched its online channel on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall before the Chinese 618 Shopping Festival. In addition to ISSEY MIYAKE, Shiseido's Narciso Rodriguez and Serge Lutens have also entered the Chinese market with their presence on the Tmall platform. ISSEY MIYAKE has a fragrance flagship store on Tmall with sales of several fragrance products exceeding 1000+. ISSEY MIYAKE's men's fragrance L’eau D’issey Pour Homme, topped the top 1 in terms of store sales. On the Chinese sharing platform Xiaohongshu, Issey Miyake's fragrance has been read 3.045 million times in the past 30 days.

In response to the passing away of Issey Miyake, many Chinese netizens expressed their regret, "It was not only a great designer but also created a great brand", "Another great designer has gone" and "The fashion industry lost a general ".