'Irving Penn and Issey Miyake'
For 13 years, celebrated fashion photographer Irving Penn took inspiring images of every Issey Miyake collection, without the designer himself ever stepping foot into the studio to guide him.
The late Penn was one of America's first modern fashion photographers, a pioneer of an austere and simple aesthetic since the 1940s. In 1983, he photographed one of Miyake's collections for American Vogue, and the designer was so impressed by the fresh perspective Penn brought to his clothes that in 1987 they began their unusual collaboration. This long-distance, yet symbiotic relationship, is the focus of a new exhibition at Miyake's 21_21 Design Sight museum at Tokyo Midtown.
The theme "Visual Dialogue" is derived from the way the two artists worked together, yet without words. Miyake trusted Penn completely with the aesthetic of the images, believing his own presence would interfere with Penn's artistic vision.
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