Celebrity File Japan by Lint


英文		重要語句
■ Fashion designer Hanae Mori has led an unusual life to say the least. It certainly has been a long strange trip from the country roads of Shimane to the catwalks of Paris. It has also been one she has done in a most roundabout way.		to say the least　控えめに言っても catwalk　ファッションショーの張り出し舞台 roundabout　遠回りの
■■ Mori had a fairly typical life for a young woman who grew up in the '30s and '40s having her education interrupted by war. Like so many other young women of the period, this meant having to go off and work in a wartime factory. After the war, she was able to finish her studies and graduate from Tokyo Christian Women's University. She soon afterwards married well, to a son of a wealthy textile manufacturer, Ken Mori. Although she says her fashion-conscious father is her real inspiration for a career in fashion, her marriage helped start her career.		interrupt　…を中断する period　時代 go off　疎開する marry well　良い相手と結婚する textile　織物
■■■ Little did she realize, though, that marrying into that textile family would change the shape of haute couture worldwide. The first step towards those Paris catwalks was nothing that profound but it began in the early '50s with a ten-year stint designing costumes for movies by such acclaimed directors as Akira Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima and Yasujiro Ozu. During that period of time, she also did private orders for a classier line of her own designs, but it wasn't until a chance meeting in Paris in 1960 with Coco Chanel that designing haute couture became her calling. The famous French designer suggested Mori try to sell her own designs to the public at large.		marry into ...　…に嫁ぐ haute couture　オートクチュール（高級仕立て服） profound　衝撃が強い stint　（割り当てられた）期間 acclaimed　高く評価された classy　高級な calling　天職 at large　一般の
■■■■ She debuted her designs in New York in 1965 and hasn't looked back. America's high-class department store Nieman Marcus has been a big supporter from the start. It has also helped that the Imperial Family, especially Empress Michiko and Princess Masako, are big fans of hers and have worn her designs in public. By 1975 Mori based herself in Paris, at least part of each year, and opened her Haute Couture Maison. She became so esteemed in that fashion-conscious nation that she became the first Asian designer to become a member of the famed French fashion governing body, La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisian. (She has also, of course, been honored by her own nation with the Japanese Order of Culture medal which she received in 1996 from the Emperor himself.)		look back　足踏みする empress　皇后 in public　公の場で base oneself in ...　…に本拠を置く maison　店《フランス語》 esteemed　高く評価されている governing body　管理機関 the Order of Culture　文化勲章
■■■■■ At her peak in 1991, Hanae Mori fashions had over 11.7 billion yen in sales. Her popularity was such that she was asked to design the official uniforms for the Japanese Olympic team at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. This should have been her crowning glory but the bizarre addition of a cape to their uniforms became the laughing stock of Olympic fashions.		setback　挫折 core business　本業 out of style　流行遅れで empire　（比喩的に）帝国 ask ... for ～　…に～を求める creditor　債権者
■■■■■■ Still that was just a small setback and, of greater concern, washer core business. Today with haute couture sort of out of style the Hanae Mori empire had to ask the Tokyo courts for protection from creditors. Many say it was her attempt to try to sell a more affordable line of clothing along with the haute couture fashions that led to this financial crunch. Whatever the future holds the world of fashion will never forget Hanae Mori's designs that often incorporated her signature butterfly motifs which she says symbolizes "both the separateness and togetherness of East and West." Not only does it do that but it could also be a symbol for her extraordinary life which unfolded slowly over time to give the world such beauty and style.		attempt to do　…しようとする試み affordable　手ごろな financial crunch　財政危機 incorporate　…を取り入れる extraordinary　非凡な unfold　展開する over time　長い年月をかけて

－written by Brian Maitland

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