The death of Hanae Mori, who was born in Muikaichi(now Yoshika), Shimane, and later became a world figure in fashion design, made not only Shimane residents but people all over the world observe mourning.
A local newspaper San-in Chuo Shinpo in Shimane distributed an extra newspaper on her death and the next day wrote feature articles about Mori’s achievements related to Shimane. The reports said that Ms Mori designed many uniforms for Shimane’s companies and schools like Sanin Godo Bank and Matsue Nishi High School and held exhibitions of her designed garments at Grand Toit in Masuda.
A major Japanese newspaper Nikkei introduced Ms Mori’s contribution to enhancing Japan’s brand image in the wake of its defeat in World War 2, which was regarded as representative of inferior products compared with today’s well-reputed image ‘made in Japan.’ She cut up a route the Parisian’ haute couture, which continued to the following Japanese designers generations such as Issey Miyake, Junko Koshino, Kenzo Takada, Yoji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo (COMME des GARÇONS).
The British public broadcasting BBC headlined her nickname ‘Madam Butterfly’ as a mark of the will of respect to Ms Mori.
New York Times heaped the highest praise on Ms Mori, the first Japanese woman to launch into the world of fashion and described her as a symbol of Japan’s postwar rehabilitation.
The most prestigious fashion magazine Vogue analyzed that Ms Mori’s garments were based on her conservative-oriented mind as a Japanese woman and the thought embodied ‘the high priestess of Japanese conservative fashion.’