Part of the Japanese wave in the 70s that reconfigured basic Western silhouettes, Miyake was a graduate of Tama Art University in Tokyo in 1964. He came to Paris the following year where he studied at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and worked for Givenchy. He established the Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo in 1970 and is celebrated for his signature pleats, sculptural design and experimentation with innovative fabrics. In 1999, Miyake quietly turned over design responsibility for the women's collection to Naoki Takizawa to focus on his latest fashion project A-POC (a piece of cloth).

"I'm not a fashion designer. Anything that's 'in fashion' goes out of style too quickly. I don't make fashion. I make clothes."