Over the weekend, Issey Miyake passed away at age 84 after a battle with liver cancer. Across his five-decade career, the Japanese fashion designer developed proprietary technologies to craft elegant yet eye-popping garments that combined ancient and traditional methods. He remained steadfast that clothing was a form of art—an unmistakably avant-garde perspective for the ‘80s, but one that landed his designs on a 1982 cover of Artforum and earned his eponymous house consistent praise. Though he took a step back from his fashion empire later in life—he turned over design responsibility for menswear in 1994 and womenswear in 1999—he maintained final oversight for his nine brands.

Born in the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1938, Miyake survived the atomic bomb seven years later that left him with a pronounced limp. He rarely discussed the tragedy, preferring instead “to think of things that can be created, not destroyed, and that bring beauty and joy,” he wrote in a 2009 opinion piece in The New York Times. That ethos would go on to define his career, which exhibited early promise as one of the first Japanese designers to show in Paris shortly after launching the Miyake Design Studio in 1970 following stints working for Hubert de Givenchy and Guy Laroche. His influence helped pave the way for contemporaries like Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo.

Despite his rapid rise to renown, Miyake loathed the label “fashion designer” and instead viewed himself as a maker of clothes. “What I wanted to make wasn’t clothes that were only for people with money,” he told the Japanese daily The Yomiuri Shimbun in 2015. “It was things like jeans and T-shirts, things that were familiar to lots of people, easy to wash and easy to use.” It’s safe to say he succeeded: his pleated garments remain popular as loungewear, and his bags have earned a cult following for their versatility. In honor of Miyake’s sterling career, we revisit his major highlights:

Pleats Please: Though his name became synonymous with cutting-edge ‘80s-era fashion, Miyake will perhaps be best remembered for the innovative micro pleating technique he pioneered in 1993. The proprietary heat treating system allowed the plissé garment collection’s accordion-like pleats to be machine washed without losing shape.

Miyake ideated Pleats Please after designing costumes equipped with tricot folds for a performance of William Forsythe’s Frankfurt Ballet in 1991, which inspired him to incorporate avant-garde choreography in his runway shows. The polyester garments are easily movable, breathable, and comfortable, and even experienced a resurgence among Gen Z-ers as luxe, easy loungewear during the pandemic.

A Super Fan: Perhaps his most dedicated customer was Steve Jobs, the charismatic founder of Apple known for the black turtlenecks he wore religiously. During a visit to Sony Japan in the ‘80s, Jobs was struck by each employee’s matching work jackets—a nylon garment with sleeves that unzipped to make it a vest—designed by Miyake.

Though his plans to implement a company-wide uniform flopped and caused him to get booed off stage during a team meeting, Jobs maintained his signature look and asked Miyake to make him hundreds of identical shirts. He wore it nearly every day for 30 years and once told biographer Walter Isaacson “I have enough to last for the rest of my life.” When he died, in 2011, Issey Miyake retired the turtleneck.

L’eau d’Issey: Though Miyake is widely celebrated for his pleated garments, perhaps his best-known product is L’eau d’Issey through Issey Miyake Parfums. Composed with perfumer Jacques Cavallier, the light aquatic floral fragrance helped popularize oceanic scents when it launched in 1992. (Its name is a pun, sounding identical to l’odyssée—“the odyssey”—in French.)

Miyake designed the bottle to evoke the view of the moon behind the Eiffel Tower from his apartment. It was followed by L’eau d’Issey Pour Homme in 1994. The enduring popularity of each led Miyake to introduce a limited-run women’s fragrance through a guest perfumer every year from 2007 onward.

Bao Bao Bag: It may have debuted later in his career as an extension of Pleats Please, but Bao Bao endures as one of Miyake’s most memorable innovations. Made of lightweight mesh fabric layered with tessellated polyvinyl triangles, Bao Bao creates “shapes made by chance” when moved or placed on surfaces. It was originally named “Bilbao” as an homage to Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Spain, whose cubist-like curved facade evokes the bag’s controlled-chaos form.

Bao Bao has since been remade multiple times, including a 2016 collection that replaced its triangular pieces with an assortment of other interlocking shapes, and has earned a cult following among design-savvy creatives, particularly architects. Zaha Hadid carried one.

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In the heart of Florence’s city center sits a hidden urban garden where flowerbeds and apricot blossoms perfume the air. The urban idyll is the work of architect Giacomo Salizzoni, who cultivated the Orti Dipinti garden for ten years and built it into a space for the neighborhood denizens. On the site of an abandoned running track hidden behind a tree-line in a community park, residents helped Salizzoni transform it into a botanical oasis while learning about the healing properties of Madonna’s wort and virtues of earthworm composting along the way.

When Il Bisonte CEO Luigi Ceccon caught wind of Salizzoni’s community-building in the city the leather goods company calls home, he knew he had to get involved. “For years on Il Bisonte’s journal, we’ve been telling stories of heroes all over the world who are fighting to change the future of the planet and its people,” he says. “Now we’ve discovered that one of them is actually quite nearby, so we’ve decided to share Giacomo’s story and also, simply, to be a part of it.”

So Ceccon invested in the garden’s infrastructure with significant financial support, including the education of its board of directors and many volunteers by fostering the skills necessary to self-manage the garden and its programming. The brand will also support Salizzoni’s mission to erect a greenhouse so anyone can visit no matter the weather.

When: Until Aug. 20

Where: Nicola Vassell Gallery, New York

What: This group exhibition presents how 14 artists render uncanny depictions of interior space in their work, from the intimate and opulent worlds created by Tschabalala Self’s exaggerated silhouettes to the solitary moments of languid women captured by Danielle McKinney. The stirring interpretations ultimately reveal the frequency with which we encounter the uncanny, agitating perception while destabilizing what we consider to be familiar.

When it comes to packing the biggest punch, infusion is king. Thanks to LĒVO’s suave, digitally optimized machine—now available in new colorways like Garden Green and Honey Cream—oil-infusing at home is as easy as using your smartphone. The brand’s signature product, the LĒVO II, starts by activating up to eight grams of “herbs” inside a ceramic chamber with digital temperature controls, then infusing them into oil or butter for all your elevated cooking and crafting needs, from gummies to bath bombs.

Trusting his gut always yields Ian Schrager’s most distinctive work, from the early days of Studio 54 to the debut of the Mondrian hotel in 1996, a milestone in the revitalization of West Hollywood. Over the past decade, the nightlife powerhouse has revved the engines behind the Edition’s rapid-fire global expansion, with new properties slated for Doha, Rome, and Dubai.

The latest, in Madrid, is a sophisticated hotel that dials into the city’s history while bringing a welcome cool to its more buttoned-up tendencies. Like fellow Edition properties, the outpost in the Spanish capital doesn’t shy away from taking risks. It rushes headlong into Schrager’s proven ideals of combining intimate moments with a reverence to its home city’s traditions, distinguishing it from the city’s recent crop of upmarket hotels like the Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, and Rosewood.

Throughout the property, Schrager swings big and hits. “It’s much more than merely a place to sleep,” Schrager says. “It’s a true hub of popular culture, entertainment, and social interaction that is a microcosm of the best of Madrid and perfectly captures the city’s spirit and essence.” The “wow” moments unfurl upon entry, where guests ascend a floating, ribbon-like staircase toward the lobby’s lofted lounge. Credit the serene vibe to British architect John Pawson, who blanketed the entire space in the same crisp neutral finishes and creamy bouclé fabrics that made his previous Edition outing in West Hollywood a standout in L.A.’s high-wattage hospitality scene.

For 40 years, Janus et Cie has served clients with a dedicated focus on outstanding quality, craftsmanship, and unparalleled service. Janus et Cie maintains 19 flagship showrooms throughout North America, Singapore, Sydney, and Milan, as well as field offices and select dealers throughout the world.

Surface Says: Janus et Cie produces modern furniture that embodies quality and excellence, employing forward-thinking designers. Part of the company’s appeal is its commitment to sustainability—proving that recycled wood, plastic, and upholstery can be deluxe when in the right hands.

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