Japanese fashion designer Hanae Mori, nicknamed ‘Madame Butterfly’ due to her signature wing motif, passed away in Tokyo on August 11 it has been announced.

Mori was a trailblazer in the fashion industry, being one of only two Japanese women to present collections on the Paris and New York runways and in 1977 became the first Asian woman to be admitted as an official haute couture design house, influencing other Japanese designers as she went. Pioneering designer Issey Miyake, who also passed away earlier this month, followed in her path.

Mori was born in Muikaichi, Shimane in 1926. After she graduated from the Tokyo Women’s Christian University she attended dress-making school and by 1951 she opened her first atelier, Hiyoshiya. She spent the next several years designing costumes for hundreds of films.

Hanae Mori, Paris Haute Couture Week in July 2004.

‘East Meets West’, her first New York collection, was shown in 1965.

As her label grew to great popularity, Mori would design uniforms for Japan Air Lines, the Japanese delegation at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and then the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Mori designed the sleeveless white wedding gown for Masako, Crown Princess of Japan in 1993.

Mori had the patronage of Masako, Crown Princess of Japan, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, Renata Tebaldi and Princess Grace of Monaco Grace Kelly.

Although Mori shuttered her atelier back in 2004, Hanae Mori stores in Japan remain open and the brand continues to sell perfume globally to this day.

In January of this year, Hanae Mori spoke about her feelings toward the fashion industry in a column for Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun Daily. “Fashion is something that pushes you, gives you courage to spread your wings and allows you to have adventures,”

On her brand’s financial struggles and eventual stepping away from the helm, she added, “It was like my butterfly wings were torn off. But this butterfly was able to fly all over the world for 70 years, because I loved making clothes.”.

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