Hanae Mori, the Japanese couturier who helped pioneer the East-West style, has died aged 96.
The designer passed away at her home in Tokyo; no cause of death was revealed by her representative, who announced the news on Thursday.
Her keen eye for fashion revolutionised global styles for decades and counted the rich, famous and global leaders as admirers. She also became the first Asian woman to be admitted to the respected Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
Here, The National looks back at her glittering career in the industry.
A childhood wracked by war
Born Hanae Fujii on January 8, 1926, in the Shimane Prefecture in south-west Japan, Mori married in 1947, the same year she graduated from Tokyo Woman’s Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in literature.
At just 15, when the Second World War arrived in the Pacific, she witnessed the destruction of her country. Like many women, she spent the war working in factories.
As Tokyo underwent a complete rebuild following extensive bombing, Mori opened an atelier in the district of Shinjuku in 1951. There, she made clothes for Japanese cinema and the wives of American soldiers. Over the next decade, Mori would create looks for hundreds of films, including Yasujiro Ozu’s Early Autumn and Yoshishige Yoshida’s Farewell to the Summer Light.
Following a trip to the Chanel boutique in Paris in 1960, Mori envisioned a future laid in couture. With women rendered virtually invisible in traditional Japanese society, Mori understood she could play into that stereotype by creating deeply feminine clothes.
Success is all part of the design
Discreetly beautiful, her creations became a huge success among Japanese society, and by 1975, she felt confident enough to showcase her creations in New York for the first time. She staged an East Meets West fashion show at the Park Avenue Hotel. It was a roaring success and saw her designs snapped up by the likes of Crown Princess Masako of Japan, Princess Grace of Monaco, Lady Bird Johnson, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton and Sophia Loren.
With an eye for creating western-style clothes imbued with Japanese motifs, Mori drew many plaudits for her style. In 1977, her attention to detail, construction and technique meant she was invited to the revered Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, making her the first Japanese designer to join.
There, she joined powerhouse brands such as Christian Dior, Chanel, Givenchy, Armani, Versace, and Valentino at the Paris shows. Her first couture collection dazzled the crowd, as a parade of gowns embellished with traditional Japanese motifs such as cherry blossoms, calligraphy and butterflies, which would become her signature.
Conversely, much of Mori’s success has been down to the innate conservatism of her clothes, unlike other Japanese designers such as Kenzo Takada, Issey Miyake (who also died earlier this month) and Rei Kawakubo, who all won fame for their avant-garde approach.
Mixing western codes with Japanese sensibilities, the resulting clothes were elegant and beautiful, but not, as Vogue magazine pointed out, “for women who wanted to make an entrance”. Instead, Mori’s gift was dressing women who preferred to savour the quiet delight of a silk cocktail dress finished with an obi, a dress printed with soft clouds and petals, or a diaphanous chiffon gown in subtle colours.
During the 1970s, Mori expanded her offering, adding daywear and workwear, as well as lines for men and children. Perfume quickly followed, as did homeware and traditional lacquerware.
By 1980, Mori was considered among one of the many success stories coming out of Japan, with The Times reporting “the name Hanae Mori has become synonymous with Japan in women’s clothing, like Toyota in automobiles, Sony in tape recorders and Nikon in cameras”. That year alone, she racked up close to $100 million in sales.
In 1989, French president Francois Mitterrand awarded Mori the Legion of Honour, the nation's highest award, for her service to haute couture.
Away from fashion
Mori also created uniforms for Japan Airlines and a version of Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly in Milan, Italy, in 1985. Over the next two years, she designed the outfits for Rudolf Nureyev’s Paris and New York opera ballet shows of Cinderella. Mori also created the looks for Elektra at the Salzburg Music Festival in 1996.
By the 1990s, however, as the world economy slumped, so too did haute couture sales. Customers began to turn away from $9,000 day suits and $26,000 evening gowns. Like many couture houses during this period, Mori was forced to shut her atelier.
However, she continued to work. She created the uniform for the Japanese team at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, followed by the uniforms for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, Norway, two years later.
After more than five decades in the industry, she formally retired in 2004, holding an emotionally charged farewell show in Paris.
“A cascade of applause greeted Hanae Mori as the audience rose to its feet to salute the great Japanese couturier’s final Paris show,” The International Herald Tribune reported at the time. “Visibly overwhelmed, the designer was surrounded by models wearing the finale dresses exquisitely embroidered with butterflies — the symbol of the house.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see other famous people who have died in 2022 so far
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Midfielders: Mahmoud Al Mawas, Mohammed Osman, Osama Omari, Tamer Haj Mohamad, Ahmad Ashkar, Youssef Kalfa, Zaher Midani, Khaled Al Mobayed, Fahd Youssef.
Forwards: Omar Khribin, Omar Al Somah, Mardik Mardikian.
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School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The final phase of player recruitment for the T10 League has taken place, with UAE and Indian players being drafted to each of the eight teams.
Bengal Tigers
UAE players: Chirag Suri, Mohammed Usman
Indian: Zaheer Khan
Karachians
UAE players: Ahmed Raza, Ghulam Shabber
Indian: Pravin Tambe
Kerala Kings
UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Abdul Shakoor
Indian: RS Sodhi
Maratha Arabians
UAE players: Zahoor Khan, Amir Hayat
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Northern Warriors
UAE players: Imran Haider, Rahul Bhatia
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Pakhtoons
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Rajputs
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