#HANAE MORI FOR FREE#
#HANAE MORI MOVIE#

'It was like my butterfly wings were torn off.

Mori built her brand into a business empire, which in its heyday occupied a whole building in Tokyo designed by the architect Kenzo Tange-later torn down and replaced with another structure at typical Japanese speed.įrom the loss of the building to the retirement of her fashion house from haute couture, 'not everything was positive', she reflected in her Yomiuri column. 'The young Japanese designers who live in Paris are passionately avant-garde,' she told the Washington Post. She saw a distinction between herself and her Japanese peers who later made a global name for themselves-such as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons fame.Īlso read: How 'Stranger Things' is reviving nostalgia for '80s fashion Mori moved her brand from Tokyo to Paris in the late 1970s and was quickly embraced by fashion insiders. Her designs combined traditional patterns like cranes and cherry blossoms-and her trademark butterflies-with Western styles, from woollen suits to sharp satin tailoring.

I suddenly realised that I should change my approach and make my dresses help a woman stand out,' she said, according to the Washington Post.Įast Meets WestIn 1965, Mori unveiled her first collection abroad, in New York, under the theme 'East Meets West'. 'The whole Japanese concept of beauty is based on concealment. When she stepped into Chanel's studio the iconic designer suggested she wear something in bright orange to contrast with her black hair. It turned out to be an inspirational encounter. 'This was a kind of turning point for me,' she once said of the trips in the early 1960s, during which she met Coco Chanel in Paris. She opened her first atelier above a noodle shop in Tokyo, and came to specialise in dressing the stars of the silver screen.Īs Japan's postwar economy grew, so did her business, which she ran with her husband-a textile executive who encouraged her to visit Paris and New York when the arrival of television made the film industry less profitable. 'Fashion is something that pushes you, gives you courage to spread your wings and allows you to have adventures,' she said.Įncounter with ChanelBorn in 1926 in a rural corner of western Japan, Mori studied literature at Tokyo Women's Christian University before turning her hand to design. In January, the designer summed up her feelings toward the industry in a special column for Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily. '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. The exclusive French club sets exacting standards for their hand-crafted, and extremely expensive, garments. She also designed uniforms for Japan Airlines flight attendants and for Japan's Olympic teams in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games and the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games.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. Notable commissions that followed before her retirement in 2004 included the dress worn by Empress Masako at her wedding to then-Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993. 'I chose the butterfly, symbolising the Japanese woman spreading her wings around the world, as my theme,' she added. Over the next decade, shows in Europe followed and she opened a fashion house in Paris, becoming the first Asian woman to be admitted to a French haute couture association. In 1965, she presented her first collection in New York, which garnered attention for its mixture of Eastern and Western themes. ''This is not Japan!' I decided to try my luck with creations that were made in Japan.' The depiction of Madame Butterfly in the opera 'Madame Butterfly,' which I saw in New York,' she said. 'Cheap Japanese products sold in the basements of department stores. 11 - told the Rakuten FashionWeek Tokyo website in an interview. 'I felt strongly aware of my roots as a 'Japanese person',' Mori - who her office said had died on Aug.

#HANAE MORI MOVIE#

Working as a designer for movie directors helped hone her style, but a turning point came in 1961, when she went to Paris to do research on designer Coco Chanel and then visited New York.

#HANAE MORI MOVIE#

#HANAE MORI FOR FREE#

Hanae mori