MULTICULTURALISM and luxury, as well as a two new lines for an experienced master were the focus of Josie Natori’s launch last week in Rustan’s.
Ms. Natori was born as Josephina Almeda Cruz in the Philippines, but moved to New York as a teen to study economics at Manhattanville College. In New York, Ms. Natori went up the ranks and became the first female Vice-President of investment banking by the 1970s — not an easy feat. Either way, she left it all in the space of nine years. She told BusinessWorld during her launch in Rustan’s Makati, “I was bored in Wall Street.”
“I wanted something and not realizing that I was missing the creative part,” she said, pointing to her past as a pianist. “I look at it as a business, but fortunately, it has allowed me also to express.”
For this season’s collection, did Ms. Natori express. Rich embroidery and expressive prints evoking images of Morocco and Japan were on display on the racks, which expensively dressed women riffled through.
Just this month, she said, she launched her Natori line, a more casual, everyday collection (think of it as her diffusion line) in simpler monochrome.
In another area, Ms. Natori has also licensed her name to a line of fine jewelry, proudly showing off a pair of earrings made up of a blackened silver dragon wrapped around a single enormous white topaz. That line is still in New York, and are yet to make an appearance in Manila.
Talking about her longevity and sustained energy in the industry (she counts 42 years in the business), she said, “We work very hard. We have a wonderful team. It’s not an easy business, but you have to keep giving something different.”
“You have to seduce them every season.”
Speaking of seduction, one of Ms. Natori’s specialties, and in fact, what made her name famous in the first place, was her lingerie line. “At the time, lingerie was either lewd or frumpy,” she said in her website. What she did was make lingerie elegant but expressive, using clean, flowing lines but in bold colors and prints. Think about it: how many people will see you in your state of undress anyway? But that’s what makes it a true luxury: a woman wears Natori lingerie not because she has something to say, but because she has already said it, and is taking a break.
“That’s the ultimate luxury,” she told BusinessWorld. “Feeling good, feeling comfortable, and feeling beautiful. Right?” — Joseph L. Garcia
