Japanese fashion designer Hanae Mori dies at 96

Aug. 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Hanae Mori, a pioneering Japanese fashion designer, has died at the age of 96 at her home in Tokyo, the Kyodo news agency has learned.

Mori, who actively participated in the world of post-war fashion, passed away last Thursday the 11th due to natural causes. Only close relatives attended the funeral.

The designer — who retired from the catwalks in 2004 — became the first Japanese to be listed as an official designer by the Haute Couture association in Paris in 1977, the year she moved to the French capital.

Hanae Mori was born in Shimane Prefecture, in the west of the country, in 1926. She later moved to Tokyo, where she opened her first workshop at the age of 25. Since then, she has participated in numerous costumes for Japanese films, for the opera at La Scala in Milan and for the ballet at the Paris Opera.

In 1965, he held his first fashion show abroad, in New York, where he attracted attention with his ‘East Meets West’ collection. She is known for her butterfly designs as well as incorporating traditional Japanese motifs into Western fashion.

The Japanese government awarded him the Purple Ribbon Medal in 1988, awarded to those who have made contributions in the academic and artistic world. In 2002 he received the Legion of Honor, France’s most prestigious decoration.