Quotes from Issey Miyake

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

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

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

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

I am not sentimental about the past. I like to think about what is next.

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.

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

Retire? Never! We are far too busy!

Design is not for philosophy it's for 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.

With imagination and personal creativity, people who sew can design the way they look to suit themselves.

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.

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.

Well, what I'm doing is really clothing. I'm not doing sculpture.

Men have been buying my women's coats for years.

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

The core spirit of Pleats Please is joy, and what better emotion to wear on your skin every day?

I've never been involved in any kind of political movement.

I have worked with several dance companies.

If you look back throughout history from the ancient Egyptians onwards, most cultures started making clothing from a very basic premise: a single piece of cloth.

I very much like dance and dancers.

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

I tried never to be defined by my past.

My design is no design.