Last Updated on 08/18/2022 by てんしょく飯
Hanae Mori, who passed away on August 11 at the age of 96, was active from the post-World War II reconstruction period and took the world by storm. She established an era with her presence in Japanese fashion.
She was highly acclaimed for her glamorous dresses decorated with butterflies.
The driving force that propelled him to the world stage was a shock he received in New York in 1961. Blouses made in Japan were called “one-dollar blouses” and sold in department stores as synonymous with cheap goods. In the opera “Madame Butterfly,” the Japanese were portrayed as miserable.
Four years later, at her first show in New York, she showed a gorgeous dress decorated with butterflies, which was highly acclaimed. She expanded her business to include not only clothing but also household goods, increasing her overseas clientele.
Her success as a world-class pioneer led to the generation that followed, including Issey Miyake.
In her personal life, she raised two sons and was a pioneer among working women. She was also a kind grandmother who appeared on TV programs with her grandchildren, Izumi Mori and Hikari Mori, who are active as models and TV personalities.
［A “pioneer” who insisted on making a difference of just one millimeter
In her 30 years of coverage, there was only one occasion when Ms. Mori broke down in tears. She said, “There are a lot of enemies when you work outside the home. She said, “When you work outside the office, you have many enemies, and it is sometimes hard. But my husband was my comrade-in-arms. He always trusted me, and that was my support.” After that, I was speechless.
She pushed forward with the belief that she wanted to turn Japan from a defeated nation into a country that could compete on the world stage. The words “the first Japanese” and “the first woman” were always attached to her, and she must have felt immeasurable pain and pressure, but she never spoke of it. But she never spoke of it. For that reason, I felt as if I was catching a glimpse for the first time of the severity of pioneering an era.
I wondered how far a Japanese female designer could go. The place she chose for her challenge was the traditional Paris Haute Couture. Under the theme of “East meets West,” she designed clothes incorporating Japanese motifs and materials, such as kabuki and cranes, and sublimated them into world-renowned beauty with perfection, paying attention to even the smallest millimeter of difference.
She gave hope to postwar Japanese women by saying, “Fashion is something that gives us courage at times and makes us adventurous. Sensitively reading lifestyles, she created ready-to-wear clothes that were easy to wear and positive.
The bereaved family chose a white stand collar blouse and black jacket that she had worn for many years as her departure outfit. She was a fashion designer, Hanae Mori, until her last days.
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