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Remembering Hanae Mori, Japan’s pioneering fashion designer who died at age 96: she founded the first Asian haute couture brand, dressed Grace Kelly and was a businesswoman in a ‘gentlemen’s country’

Late Japanese fashion designer Hanae Mori, who cracked the elite world of Parisian haute couture, died at her home in Tokyo aged 96, Japanese media reported on August 18. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP
Late Japanese fashion designer Hanae Mori, who cracked the elite world of Parisian haute couture, died at her home in Tokyo aged 96, Japanese media reported on August 18. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP
Fashion

  • While Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Comme Des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo are ‘passionately avant-garde’, Mori loved tradition ... but Coco Chanel inspired her to stand out
  • She started out in cinema, creating film costumes, but soon her fashion empire spread from Tokyo to New York and Paris, with public figures such as Nancy Reagan donning her clothes

Over the decades, Hanae Mori’s luxurious creations were worn by Nancy Reagan, Grace Kelly and countless members of high society.

But she was also a pioneer for Japanese women – one of a tiny number to head an international corporation.

An employee at Mori’s office said on Thursday, August 18, that she died at home “of old age” on August 11, and that a private funeral had taken place. She was 96.

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The spring/summer high fashion collection by Japanese designer Hanae Mori modelled in 1978, in Paris. Photo: AP Photo
The spring/summer high fashion collection by Japanese designer Hanae Mori modelled in 1978, in Paris. Photo: AP Photo
The designer’s trailblazing career took her from Tokyo, where she started out making costumes for cinema, to New York and Paris – and in 1977 her label became the first Asian fashion house to join the rarefied ranks of haute couture.
Japanese fashion designer Hanae Mori (left) with a fashion model wearing clothing from her creations in Paris, 1977. Photo: AFP
Japanese fashion designer Hanae Mori (left) with a fashion model wearing clothing from her creations in Paris, 1977. Photo: AFP

The exclusive French club sets exacting standards for their hand-crafted – and extremely expensive – garments.

“When humans work with their hands, their creativity expands,” Mori told AFP during a 2006 retrospective in Tokyo, where a robot modelled a replica of her classic Chrysanthemum Pyjamas, a kimono-like robe made from hot pink chiffon and silk.

Chrysanthemum Pajamas by Hanae Mori comprising a twilled silk and silk chiffon kaftan, a twilled satin jump suit and a silk satin belt, displayed at the Iwami Art Museum. Photo: In Pretty Finery/Facebook
Chrysanthemum Pajamas by Hanae Mori comprising a twilled silk and silk chiffon kaftan, a twilled satin jump suit and a silk satin belt, displayed at the Iwami Art Museum. Photo: In Pretty Finery/Facebook