Pioneering Japanese 'butterflies' designer Hanae Mori dies at 96

FILE PHOTO: Models applaud Japanese designer Hanae Mori (L) at the end of her Haute Couture 2003-2004 Autumn-Winter collection in Paris, July 9, 2003.

Hanae Mori, a pioneering designer who brought Japanese motifs to the global haute couture stage and created the wedding dress worn by Empress Masako, had died aged 96.

Famed for her butterfly designs, Mori was born in the rural prefecture of Shimane, recalling in later life how the stylish clothes ordered for her as a girl by her doctor father from Mitsukoshi, a noted Tokyo department store, left her feeling "embarrassed".