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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Susan Knox

Issey Miyake dead: Japanese fashion designer dies after cancer battle

Japanese fashion designer and the founder of the namesake fashion brand, Issey Miyake, has died at the age of 84.

The fashion icon died of hepatocellular carcinoma after a long health battle.

Miyake's global career spanned more than half a century before his untimely death at 84.

His death was announced by an employee at his office in Tokyo Tuesday.

The fashion designer's employee told AFP: "He died on the evening of August 5."

Miyake's funeral had already taken place, with 'only relatives participating' in line with his wishes.

The employee also confirmed that the fashion designer's family have no plans to organise a public ceremony - despite Miyake being one of the most talented in his field in Japan.

Issey Miyake has died at the age of 84 (AFP via Getty Images)

Issey Miyake became a huge part of a wave of young Japanese designers who made their mark in Paris from the mid-1970s - and since then his stellar career has spanned decades.

The talented star pioneered high-tech, comfortable clothing, and insisted on side-stepping the grandiosity of haute couture in favour of what he called simply 'making things'.

While he became renowned for his eclectic fashion choices, the designer faced many challenges in his youth before reaping the success of his creative talents.

Contemporary artist Issey Miyake was one of the most talented designers of his time (Getty Images)

Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Miyake was seven years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on his city in August 1945.

Thankfully, he survived the horror blast, which ultimately killed an estimated 140,000 people.

The atomic bomb attack led to the end of World War II after the bombing of Nagasaki three days later.

Japanese designer Issey Miyake has died (AFP via Getty Images)

After living through the tense times as a child, Miyake went on to establish Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo in 1970 as his design career continued to blossom.

Soon afterwards opened his first Paris boutique.

By the 1980s, the designer had become a huge name in the fashion industry, as he experimented with making garments from materials from plastic to metal wire and even artisanal Japanese paper.

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