Since April 15, 2026, HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth has been on view at The National Art Center, Tokyo in Roppongi. Nearly a month after its opening, walking through the exhibition makes clear that this is not simply a retrospective of glamorous dresses. It is an exhibition that traces how fashion in postwar Japan came to connect with society, the wider world, and culture itself.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

Hanae Mori was the first Japanese—and the first Asian—designer to become a full member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. Yet what this exhibition presents is not a simple story of “a Japanese designer who succeeded internationally.” Rather, it is the trajectory of a creator who, through clothing, renewed the image of women in Japan, urban culture, media, and even the very spaces where fashion could be discussed.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

“Vital Type” as a New Image of Womanhood

The term “Vital Type,” which gives the exhibition its title, was proposed by Mori in the January 1961 issue of So-en. It described a woman full of vitality, alert to the times, committed to her work, and unafraid of effort. The phrase suggested a new image of womanhood in postwar Japan, while also overlapping with Mori’s own way of life.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

At the beginning of the exhibition, magazine articles, photographs, and film materials from the period are displayed. What emerges is Mori as a designer, a working woman, a wife, and a mother. The image of a woman moving across multiple roles—something that may feel familiar today—was highly progressive at the time.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

During this period, Mori was also deeply involved in costume design for cinema. Through clothing worn by actors on screen, she visualized ideals of womanhood and the atmosphere of the era. That work would later become one of the foundations of her creative language.

From Japanese Textiles to the World

In 1960, Mori’s first visits to Paris and New York became a major turning point. In order to go out into the world, she paradoxically returned to studying Japan: Japanese art, Japanese literature, and Japanese textiles. From this rediscovery came MIYABIYAKA, the collection she presented in New York in 1965. Vivid dresses made with obi fabrics and silk textiles drew attention as an expression of “East Meets West,” leading to distribution in luxury department stores in the United States.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

The exhibition presents not only textiles Mori actually used, but also original drawings and test prints. What becomes visible is her understanding of fabric not as mere decoration, but as a cultural medium. Particularly striking is the first presentation in Japan of works by Mori from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A dress commissioned by Mary Griggs Burke, the renowned collector of Japanese art, features a design inspired by Itō Jakuchū’s White Plum Blossoms and Moon.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

What appears here is not a simple attempt to “introduce Japanese culture overseas.” Rather, it reveals Mori’s ability to re-edit Japanese aesthetics within an international context and present them as a new form of value.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

The Designer Who Turned Fashion into Information

One of the most compelling aspects of this exhibition is that it positions Mori not only as a couturière, but as someone who helped build the informational infrastructure of fashion in Japan. Hanae Mori Ryuko Tsushin, launched in 1966, later developed into Ryuko Tsushin, one of Japan’s leading fashion magazines. Around Mori also emerged a number of important media projects, including STUDIO VOICE, edited by her eldest son, the introduction of the American fashion trade paper WWD to Japan, and the launch of the television program Fashion Tsushin.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

The Hanae Mori Building, completed in Omotesando in 1978, was also more than a brand building. It hosted shows, welcomed designers from overseas, and became a gathering place for people engaged with fashion. Mori did not only create clothing. She created places in the city where clothing could be seen, discussed, and shared.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

Haute Couture as a Point of Arrival

In 1977, Mori became the first Asian designer admitted as a full member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. In Chapter 4 of the exhibition, haute couture works spanning 27 years—from her debut collection in 1977 to her final collection in 2004—are presented by theme.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

“Embroidering,” “weaving,” “folding and layering,” “ink painting,” “flowers,” “black and white,” “brides.” What is on view is not simply luxury, but clothing in which Japanese technique, aesthetics, and bodily sensibility are condensed at a high intensity. Particularly memorable is her treatment of materials. Beyond delicate embroidery and weaving, a distinctly Japanese sensitivity can be felt in the structure of layered fabrics and in the use of negative space.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

Rather than moving closer to the West in order to succeed in Paris, Mori gained originality by digging deeper into Japanese beauty. It is this attitude that makes her haute couture exceptional.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

Clothing as Something Society Wears

The latter part of the exhibition introduces HANAE MORI Made in India, HANAE MORI Made in China, ready-to-wear using Vanlon fabric, and Mori’s work in uniform design. What becomes clear here is that Mori was never only a designer of haute couture. Clothes that could be washed, resisted wrinkles, were functional, and yet offered a sense of dream: the Hanae Mori Vanlon pieces, which spread alongside Japan’s travel boom, were closely connected to changes in women’s lives in postwar Japan.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

Her uniforms for Japan Airlines, Japan’s Olympic team, and other institutions also reflect her idea of “collective beauty.” Not only individual beauty, but the visual landscape that emerges when people wear clothing together. This perspective shows that Mori was always thinking about clothing within society.

Installation view of “HANAE MORI Vital Type: The 100th Anniversary of Birth”
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE

What Did Hanae Mori Leave Behind?

What remains after viewing the exhibition is not merely the impression of butterflies or glamorous dresses. What lingers more strongly is Mori’s will to expand fashion into women’s lives, cities, industry, media, and culture. “Vital Type” was both an ideal image of its time and a reflection of Hanae Mori herself.

Designer Hanae Mori, 2002 (Courtesy of The Mainichi Newspapers)
photo by ©FASHION HEADLINE
Today, that phrase asks us once again to consider fashion not simply as the act of dressing, but as a way of renewing the place from which we stand.