And this clarity arises, according to Holborn, in how “the work of one provides a mirror for the work of the other.” They possess a visual style that is highly readable, like animation or hieroglyphs. The visual directness affirms the precise and calibrated way Miyake’s garments are designed and made, which is magnified by how Penn takes photographs. To look at the photographs is to see how Penn essentializes Miyake’s designs, bestowing them with a graphic clarity and a highly dynamic sense of how they can be worn. Irving Penn, Issey Miyake Elephant Crepe (Front View), New York, 1983Ī comprehensive set of images from their work together is reproduced in the photobook Irving Penn Regards the Work of Issey Miyake, published in 1999 and edited by Mark Holborn. Following a session, Penn would then send the complete run of transparencies generated to Miyake in Tokyo, who would use them to review his design work and as the springboard for new design directions. Polaroids were then taken in preparation for the main shoot. Penn would sit at a table with a pencil and paper and sketch as models wearing the designs were directed. Instead, Penn was supported by representatives from Miyake’s team, makeup artist and photographer Tyen, and hairstylist John Sahag. Miyake insisted on Penn being unhindered, so he always absented himself from the New York shoots. But these outputs were not the principal intention they were the mere fruits of a long-distance creative exchange between the two. In 1986 Penn started to shoot Miyake’s seasonal collections in New York, resulting in advertising campaigns, exhibitions, and publications. The pair met in Tokyo over dinner, after an introduction by a mutual friend, the publisher Nicholas Callaway.
Irving Penn, Issey Miyake Poncho and Apron Belt, New York, 1987 Irving Penn, Issey Miyake Staircase Dress, New York, 1994
When Miyake saw how Penn had photographed his clothes for an American Vogue editorial in 1983, he exclaimed, “Wow! I never thought of looking at clothes in that way! The clothes have been given a voice of their own!” On one page a model held out the wide-cut legs of a drawstring jumpsuit she wore, drawing attention to the volume of fabric and accentuating the garment’s graphic shape. His longstanding working relationship with the photographer Irving Penn, whom he called Penn-san, is testament to Miyake’s understanding of how he could regard his work anew, by looking at it through the creative eye of another. The late Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake held a rare appreciation for the role of image-making in design creativity.
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