Hanae Mori

Hanae Mori (森 英恵, Mori Hanae^?, /həˌnɑːeɪ ˈmɔːri/, born January 8, 1926) is a fashion designer in Japan. She is the only Japanese woman to have presented her collections on the runways of Paris and New York, and the first Asian woman to be admitted as an official haute couture design house by the fédération française de la couture in France. Her fashion house, opened in Japan in 1951, grew to become a $500 million international business by the 1990s.

Mori was born in Yoshika, Shimane. After graduating from Tokyo Women's Christian University, she married and attended dress-making school. She opened her first atelier in 1951 and over the next several years designed costumes for hundreds of movies. In 1965, she successfully presented her first New York collection, "East Meets West". Twelve years later, she opened an haute couture showroom in Paris, leading to her appointment as a member of La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.

Mori designed three consecutive uniforms for the stewardesses (flight attendants) of Japan Air Lines (JAL). The first uniform was worn from 1967 to 1970; the second, which created a sensation by featuring a miniskirt, worn from 1970 to 1977; and the third worn from 1977 to 1988. From 1989 to 1996, Mori employed Dominique Sirop as a designer. He became a grand couturier in 1997.

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