We remember the most important moments of the designer Hanae Mori, who passed away at the age of 96

Hanae Mori paved the way for a whole generation of Japanese designers and women who wanted to do business abroad. He was born in 1926 on the Japanese island of Honshu, from there he moved with his family to Tokyo, where he studied literature. After marrying Ken Mori, a textile industry executive, she decided to devote herself to the fashion world.

During the war, observed the fashion from a different prism than I was used to. It was during the period of occupation, when he analyzed the way the wives of the American military officers were dressed and how they adapted the dresses for them. also noticed the differences between his country’s fashion and American fashion: Japanese clothing was flat and two-dimensional, while Western clothing was looser and three-dimensional. Later on, creative and feminine designs would be born from her prodigious spirit, which would unite the fashions of the East and the West.

He loved the craftsmanship, delicacy and perfectionism of the hands threading the needle. He even set up his own fund to support young designers and craftsmen. He declared himself a fashion lover all his life, as he stated in a special column for the Japanese newspaper in January yomiuri shimbun: “Fashion is something that pushes you, gives you the courage to spread your wings and allows you to have adventures”, although in recent years “not everything has been positive”, “This butterfly was able to fly around the world for 70 years because I loved making clothes.” In those 70 years, he designed the costumes for numerous films in his country and also received commissions from personalities from all over the world, such as the wedding dress of the wife of the Japanese emperor, he also made clothes for Nancy Reagan, the wife of the president American Ronald Reagan or American actress Grace Kelly.

Some milestones of her career as a designer were:

At just 25 years old, he opened his first tailor’s workshop in the Shinjuku district, which over time became a store in Ginza, one of Tokyo’s most expensive districts, and later it would become an international luxury brand.

Hanae Mori became famous thanks to a life-changing opportunity. His first studio was in front of a movie theater and a Japanese director, seeing his designs come out of a movie, offered to create the costumes for his next premiere. After this connection with the film world, his designs traveled to New York and Paris.

In 1965 he held his first fashion show abroad, more specifically in New York, where he triumphed with his collection East meets West. By then she was already known for her butterfly designs and for combining the best of Japanese culture with Western fashion. In the collection he presented, motifs inspired by those of kimonos, cherry blossoms and birds also stood out.

In 1977 he managed to open his studio in Paris, in the Avenue Montaigne and became part of that city’s Haute Couture Trade Union Chamber, being the first Asian to achieve it. The designer made her name on the international scene, sharing the catwalk with the most prominent creatives on the European scene during the Paris fashion week.

During his career he received numerous awards, including: The Order of Culture of Japanbecause she was the first woman to receive it, her country also gave her the Purple Ribbon Medal, awarded to those who have made a contribution in the academic and artistic world. In France he was given the title of Officer of the Legion of Honor, the most prestigious award in the country.