Annual turnover for this activity is $15 million, according to the company. One of the group’s most successful forays is a cashmere spinning business launched as a joint venture in China in 1985, which produces cashmere for the designer’s own line and also a small number of private label customers in the U.S. Last September the company launched a new women’s scent, Haute Couture. The company has $10 million in annual sales in an ultraselective distribution and is growing quickly last year sales on the company’s two scents were up more than 70 percent over 1997 on a same-store basis, according to Saujet. Style issues aside, the conversation mostly focused on business matters, including a cashmere spinning business and the company’s three-year-old fragrance license with a French company run by Claude Saujet, a former president of Sanofi Beaute and Yves Saint Laurent Parfums. “She always wants it too sexy,” countered Hanae Mori. I guess it’s my California side, but I like it a little sexier,” said Pamela. “A lot of the girls wore lingerie looks, very sexy.” Hanae Mori raised her eyebrows behind her oversized black sunglasses. “The young people were very dressed up,” observed Hanae Mori, approvingly. In its efforts to attract younger customers, the company for the past two years has organized a singles dance for 20- to 30-year-old children of clients. What could a Japanese father say to a bold response like that?” “My husband asked her ‘What do you like about Japan?’ and she replied, ‘Tempura and Aki.’ That’s how he found out there was something going on. “My husband had no idea and this was very unusual, an American girl,” she said, recalling how she organized a reception and invited Pamela. She recalled how Pamela, who had come to Japan as a model, did one of her shows and began dating Akira, who’s known in the family as Aki. She’s also interested in attracting younger customers, and that is reflected in her decision to appoint Pamela, who is California-born, as creative director. Hanae Mori, 73, said she had no plans to immediately retire - and she will continue to oversee the couture collection single-handedly - but her husband died in 1996 and she is keen to plan for the future of the company. Pamela, whose children all attended prestigious - and tradition-bound - academies in Tokyo, said that there are whole groups of apparel designed for PTA meetings, an almost ceremonial occasion in Japan. The company has 70 boutiques in Japan, and Mori is a favorite designer among well-to-do Japanese women of her generation, whether they’re dressing for golf, a wedding or the school PTA meeting. Annual turnover is $400 million and more than 70 percent of that is done in Japan. Hanae Mori set up her studio in 1951 and the company - which today includes fashion, retailing, publishing and broadcast concerns - is owned by the family. The oldest two grandchildren interned at the company in Paris last summer. Hanae Mori was quick to praise Pamela for her work developing a cashmere line for the house and couldn’t resist mentioning that Pamela - a former model who retains her tall, attractive looks - had also been busy raising her five children. Also on hand were Hanae Mori’s younger son Kei Mori, president of Paris-based Hanae Mori Haute Couture SA, and Max-Michel Grand, the managing director of the French subsidiary. Mori discussed her daughter-in-law’s appointment at a luncheon in the Garden Room of the Plaza Athenee here, where the occasion was marked by champagne and familial banter between the in-laws. “Pamela has been involved in the company, and now she and I will be working closely together.” “We are very interested in keeping the fashion house in the family,” said Hanae Mori. An American, Pamela Mori has lived in Tokyo for more than 20 years. Pamela Mori is married to Hanae Mori’s elder son Akira Mori, who succeeded his father, the late Ken Mori, as president of the Hanae Mori Group. PARIS - Keeping it a family affair, Pamela Mori has been named to the new post of creative director for women’s ready-to-wear at Hanae Mori. IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY: PAMELA MORI CREATIVE CHIEF OF WOMEN’S RTW
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