Pioneering Japanese 'butterflies' designer Hanae Mori dies at 96

FILE PHOTO: Japanese fashion designer Hanae Mori looks on at the Spring/Summer 2006 Castilla y Leon fashion show at the Merced Palace in Burgos, northern Spain, October 6, 2005.

TOKYO (Reuters) - 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".