Leading Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake has died.

Miyake was born in Hiroshima in 1938. After graduating from an art university in Tokyo, he went to Europe and the United States to study clothing design.

He later released his designs in Paris and New York, winning worldwide acclaim for his novel designs based on traditional Japanese beauty merged with new materials.

Miyake had been reluctant to speak out about the atomic bombing of his home town when he was seven years old. But in 2009 he contributed an essay on the experience to the New York Times, calling on then-US President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima.
Miyake said his mother died within three years from radiation exposure. He said he had chosen not to share his experiences because he did not want to be tagged as a designer who survived the atomic bomb.

His office says Miyake died from cancer at a Tokyo hospital on August 5. He was 84 years old.