Hanae Mori, the Japanese fashion designer who broke into the world of French haute couture nearly half a century ago, has died at the age of 96, her office said Thursday.
Mori, who earned the nickname “Madame Butterfly” for her signature motif, was seen as a symbol of Japan’s rising status as a modern and elegant nation, and as a trailblazer for the country’s women.
He designed clothes for Grace Kelly and Nancy Reagan, as well as the wedding dress of the current Japanese empress, Masako.
Her career took her from Tokyo, where she began making costumes for movies, to New York and Paris. In 1977, her brand became the first Asian fashion house to join the rarefied ranks of haute couture.
Her global empire expanded to include perfumes, handbags and publications, and her umbrellas and scarves, often adorned with colorful butterflies, became a status symbol among working women.
Born in 1926 in rural Shimane Prefecture in western Japan, Mori studied literature at Tokyo Women’s Christian University before becoming a designer. She began specializing in designs for film actors after opening her first workshop, above a noodle shop in Tokyo.
Her rapidly 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.
Models display creations by Japanese designer Hanae Mori during the Fall-Winter 2004-05 Haute Couture collection in Paris. Photograph: Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP/Getty Images
“It was kind of a turning point for me,” he said of those visits, which included a meeting with Coco Chanel at her studio in Paris that turned out to be a turning point.
The French designer suggested that she wear something in bright orange to contrast with her black hair.
“The whole Japanese concept of beauty is based on concealment,” Mori said of the meeting in an interview with the Washington Post. “Suddenly I realized that I had to change my approach and make my dresses help a woman stand out.”
In 1965, Mori presented his first collection abroad, in New York, under the motto “East Meets West”. His designs combine traditional patterns like cranes and cherry blossoms, along with his signature butterflies, with Western styles.
In 1985, she created stage costumes for a performance of “Madame Butterfly” at La Scala in Milan and showed her collections for decades in Japan and abroad until she retired in 2004.
Fusing traditional Japanese kimono with dresses, Mori designed the uniforms for Japan Airlines flight attendants and the Japanese team for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Mori’s office said Thursday that he died on August 11 at his home in Tokyo. No cause of death has been given.
Many in Japan will remember her for the white dress adorned with rose petals that she designed for Masako for her marriage to then-Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993. She also created costumes for hundreds of Japanese films in the 1950s and 1960s, and more. late years for Noh and Kabuki theater.
Aside from her designs, Mori became a formidable businesswoman, a rarity in Japan, and in 1986 she became the first female member of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.
Looking back on the early years of her marriage, she said she was never asked out with her husband’s friends. “Japan was a country of gentlemen,” she said, according to the Kyodo news agency. “I wanted to be different.”
Mori gained official recognition for his achievements from the Japanese government, which awarded him the Purple Ribbon Medal in 1988 in recognition of his contribution to art. In 2002, he received the Legion of Honor, France’s most prestigious decoration, in the rank of officer.
“She was a trendsetter in Japan. At a time when the industry had not been established, she shaped what it meant to work as a designer,” curator and fashion researcher Akiko Fukai told Kyodo.
“Being the first Japanese to be listed as a haute couture designer in Paris, the highest peak in the world of fashion, means that she was recognized on the world stage. She has left a big mark.”
Mori is survived by two sons, a daughter, seven grandchildren and several great-grandchildren, his office said. Her husband Ken Mori died in 1996.
Source: www.theguardian.com