Two 20th Century Fashion Designers: Issey Miyake and Hussein Chalayan - Research Paper Example

The Two 20th Century Fashion Designers: Issey Miyake and Hussein Chalayan Issey Miyake was born in Hiroshima, Japan on 22nd April 1938. He is an excellent and well known designer and his designs are considered to be as master pieces. His designs are very beautiful and unique as well. He hails from Japan and so everyone expects a top class work from him. He however not only designs hot couture, but some of his creations are termed as marvels by the fashion fraternity. Issey Miyake had a tough childhood and his works somewhat seems to reflect it. He came to New York in 1969 and worked under Geoffrey Beene for two years and then set up Miyake Design Studio (MDS), his very own creative studio. Here he experimented with the fabrics to produce some of the best masterpieces in fashion industry. Fig 1: Minaret by Issey Mityake Miyake is a leading fashion designer working with new materials and technology that have their origins in Japan (Troy, 2003). He worked closely with Junichi Arai, the co-founder of Nuno, a Japanese textile design company that integrates modern technological advances with traditional textile craft-making methods (Miyake et al, 1999). His designs are inspired by the traditional Japanese styles but the thing which makes him stand out from the crowd is his blend of fabrics. Figure 2: A Hussein Chalayan Attire Hussein Chalayan was born in the year 1978 in Nicosia in Turkey. He is a very imaginative designer. He studied at Warwickshire School of Arts for a diploma in fashion and clothing and later went to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London to study about the designs and excel in them (Chalayan & Evans, 2005). In 2006 he was honored as the Member of the Order of the British Empire. His works reflects designs from both the rural as well as urban culture. His works are also inspired by history and the relation of man with earth, while Issey Miyake works very hard experimenting with the fabric and artificial textiles in his laboratory. Issey Miyake follows traditional styles and is inspired by the traditions whereas Hussein Chalayan has more advanced ideas. His designs are more inspired by technology and are very futuristic. Seitz & Scapp (2010, p .37) state ‘In Hussein Chalayan, who hires MIT tech heads to augment his fashion, hemlines change, zippers uncurl, and models sometimes transform from fully clothed to naked by the time they reach the end of the runway.’ Figure 3: Hussein Chalayan Laser Dress Miyake’s approach for making outfits is by using only a single piece of cloth for creating a garment. His idea of design is to maintain a perfect balance between the traditional style as well as something innovative and inspired by the new technology (Miyake et al, 1999). In contrast to this, Hussein Chalayan is world famous for his innovative ideas as well as progressive outlook to new machinery. Miyake’s way of working is in some way challenging the new method that connect the latest technology with knitting machines to produce clothes using a single thread while Hussein Chalayan is known for his detailed pattern cutting for which he depends upon the latest computer technology. Hussein Chalayan is basically inspired by technology and he infuses it with his designs. His designs are inspired by high technology. An example is the ‘Airplane Dress’, which he designed with the same material which is used in the construction of an airplane and this dress could be changed into many shapes and sizes with a help of a remote control (Chalayan & Evans, 2005). Another such unique and extraordinary dress designed by him was in his winter collection, where he made a dress which could be folded back to take the shape of a table. Contrary to Hussein Chalayan’s advanced designs, Issey Miyake’s designs are inspired from the past (Steele, 1998). His designs like kimono and sashika coats are simple and one can relate them with earth and nature. His designs reflect simplicity and harmony. Figure 4: Hussein Chalayan Tangent Flows Hussein is essentially a scientific designer and uses high tech gadgets to design his costumes; on the other hand Issey Miyake is not only a designer, but also an artist. Miyake’s works are inspired by earth, nature, history, traditions etc while Chalayan’s works are inspired by technology, culture, science and the human body. Hussein’s designs show his interest in architecture, aerodynamics etc while Issey Miyake’s designs are more conceptual. Fabrics give a new look and style to dresses. The fabrics used by both the designers are also very different. While Miyake uses light weight fabrics, Hussein Chalayan’s costumes are made up of rigid fabrics (Chalayan & Evans, 2005). Svendsen (2006, p. 92) states’ An important moment in the mutual rapprochement between fashion and art took place in February 1982, when the cover of the influential American magazine Artforum showed a model wearing an evening dress designed by Issey Miyake. It was not unusual for fashion clothes and photos to be used in an artistic context, but what distinguished this cover photo from the common use of fashion in art was that this dress was presented as something that in itself was art.’ Miyake expertise is in pleating (Miyake et al, 1999). His pleated designs are world famous and it has brought a lot of recognition to him. Miyake perfectly blends the traditional look with the latest technology while Hussein Chalayan is more influenced with futuristic styles which are highly influenced by high computer technology. Hussein Chalayan has produced such dresses which no one could ever think of. He has taken the fashion industry to a next level with his innovative styles and ideas. He designed a dress in which there were 1500 LED lights and also used many other colorful lights. Issey Miyake’s dresses are prêt a porter whereas clearly, Chalayan’s designs are mostly hot couture. The dresses he designs are made in such a way that it can be easily worn by everyone. Svendsen (2006, p. 92) comment ‘Hussein Chalayan’s shows often seemed more like art installations than fashion shows. At a 1994 show, for example, the clothes were accompanied by a text that gave an account of how they came into being, and of how they had been buried underground for weeks before being dug up and shown on the cat-walk. He has claimed, with some justification, that many of his creations would do better on a museum wall than on a human body.’ Issey Miyake is considered to be a traditional designer however he too like Hussein Chalayan likes to experiment with fabrics and style to come up with something different and unique. He followed a completely opposite way of pleating garments by first making the garments with light weight fiber and then pleating them with the help of pleating machine (Leese, 1991). The benefit of this reverse process is that the dresses he made were easy to wash and were wrinkle resistant. Both Issey Miyake and Hussein Chalayan are very creative but while one uses his creativity and connects more with the traditions and cultures, the other connects better with future and advanced technology (Evans, 2003). Even though both the designers share similar interests in appearance and movement, yet both have different way of thinking and defining things. Miyake like Chalayan, uses advanced technology but in a completely different way and style. Technology for both of them hence has different meanings. Hussein Chalayan has made convertible dresses as well as the ones with different colored lights and videos (Stern, 2004). Issey Miyake has made dresses which can be designed by the wearer in whatever way he or she likes. With the help of the guidelines, the wearer can cut the dress with the help of scissors and vary the length of the sleeves, the garment, the neckline etc. Thus here the wearer herself becomes the designer of her own dress. This collection of dresses was known as the A-POC line where POC is an abbreviation for ‘Piece of Cloth’. This innovative collection was launched in 1999 (Miyake et al, 1999). Figure 5: Issey Miyake Fall/Winter 2009 Conclusion Both Issey Miyake and Hussein Chalayan have worked together in a lot of fashion shows. The best and the most innovative ever fashion show in which they worked together was the one which showed that paper can also serve as a dress. Both the designers experimented and played beautifully with paper. In the paper themed fashion show, both these designers known for their unconventional designs, portrayed paper as a completely different thing. Thus both the designers have the ability to transform a simple raw material or fabric into a beautiful garment which everyone would love to wear. Both the designers are similar as well as very different from each other as both have diverse and unique viewpoint for the same design elements. Both are therefore pioneers in their own field and completely justify their work. References Chalayan, Hussein, and Evans, Caroline (2005), Hussein Chalayan, Rotterdam: NAi Publishers Miyake Design Studio, “Collection” Last modified, 2010. http://mds.isseymiyake.com/mds/en/collection/ Evans, Caroline (2003) Fashion At The Edge: Spectacle, Modernity & Deathliness. New Haven: Yale University Press, “Issey Miyake: Biography” Accessed March 26, 2011. http://www.answers.com/topic/issey-miyake Leese, Elizabeth (1991) Costume Design In The Movies: An Illustrated Guide To The Work Of 157 Great Designers. New York: Dover Publications Miyake, Issei, Kazuko Sato, Raymond Meier, and Hervé Chandès. (1999). Issey Miyake making things. [Paris]: Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain Svendsen, Lars (2006) "Fashion: A Philosophy" London: Reaktion Books Seitz, Brian and Scapp, Ron (eds.) (2010) Fashion Statements: On Style,. Appearance, and Reality, New York: Palgrave Macmillan Steele, Valerie (1998) Paris Fashion: A Cultural History. New York: Berg Stern, Radu (2004) Against Fashion: Clothing As Art, 1850-1930. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press Troy, Nancy J. (2003) Couture Culture: A Study In Modern Art And Fashion. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press Read More