“Living and working in Paris, I looked at myself very hard and asked, ‘What could I do as a Japanese fashion designer?’ Then I realised that my very disadvantage, lack of Western heritage, would also be my advantage. I was free of Western tradition or convention. I thought, ‘I can try anything new. I cannot go back to my past because there is no past in me as far as Western clothing is concerned. There was no other way for me to go but to go forwards.’ The lack of Western tradition was the very thing I needed to create contemporary and universal fashion .... I hoped to create a new genre of clothing, neither Western nor Japanese, but beyond nationality and challenging to our time.” 🖤 Issey Miyake by Irving Penn