Hanae Mori, the Japanese fashion designer who broke into the world of French haute couture almost half a century ago, has died aged 96, her office said on Thursday.
Mori, who earned the nickname “Madame Butterfly” for her signature motif, was regarded as a symbol of Japan’s growing status as a modern, fashionable nation, and as a pioneer for the country’s women.
She designed clothes for Grace Kelly and Nancy Reagan, as well as the wedding gown worn by the current Japanese empress, Masako.
Her career took her from Tokyo, where she started out making costumes for cinema, to New York and Paris. In 1977, her label became the first Asian fashion house to join the rarefied ranks of haute couture.
Her global empire expanded to include perfumes, handbags and publishing, and her umbrellas and scarves, often decked with colourful butterflies, became a status symbol with working women.
Mori was born in 1926 in rural Shimane prefecture, western Japan, and studied literature at Tokyo Women’s Christian University before becoming a designer. She started specialising in designs for film actors after she opened her first atelier, above a noodle shop in Tokyo.
Her quickly expanding business mirrored the breakneck pace of Japan’s postwar economic development in the 1960s, when her business partner and husband, a textile executive, encouraged her to try her luck in the fashion capitals of Paris and New York. ...continue reading
Source: ANNnewsCH
