Issey Miyake Quotes
When I first began working in Japan, I had to confront the Japanese people's excessive worship for foreign goods and the fixed idea of what clothes ought to be. I wanted to change the rigid formula of clothing that the Japanese followed.
Miyake, Issey. Issey Miyake East Meets West. Edited by Kazuko Koike, Heibonsha, 1978.
He insisted that Turks wear hats rather than the class-specific traditional headwear. Some Turks preferred the word “modernized” to “civilized.”
He was describing the wife of the Turkish leader, Kemal Ataturk. Turkey at the time was a traditional Muslim culture where women wore burkas and very traditional Islamic female dress. Ataturk was a great reformer who placed great emphasis on reforming traditional customs of dress when supported and/or mandated by clerics. He used himself and his family as exemplars. At this particular occasion she appeared in a state ceremony wearing riding jodhpurs—pants—with leather boots and a silk blouse with no head covering. It was shocking to see an important woman in a silk blouse but absolutely astounding to see her in what was then perceived as men’s attire. Ataturk went on to completely change the nature of dress in Turkey—especially lifting the restrictions on women. See {593676}, {584524} and {610605}.
Rodriquez was an indigenous Indian who came to power with the startling victory of Evo Morales, also an Indian in a country where the Indians comprise the majority of the population but have had virtually no political power and have been discriminated against by Bolivian governments since the country became independent of Spain.
Issey Miyake is a Japanese fashion designer. He is known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances, such as L'eau d'Issey, which became his most well-known product.
