The Fashion School at ºÚÁÏÍø is pleased to announce that designer and business leader Josie Natori will be inducted into the Fashion School Hall of Fame on April 30. The ceremony will take place as part of the Kent State Fashion School’s Annual Fashion Show, presented the same evening. Previous inductees include Estée Lauder, Elsa Klensch, Allen Questrom, Michael Weiss, Ralph Rucci, Oscar de la Renta, Leonardo Ferragamo and Dana Buchman.
Attendees of the Annual Fashion Show’s Sponsor/VIP Show held the evening of Saturday, April 30, will have the opportunity to meet Natori during a special VIP reception. Tickets are $500 and include a donation to the Fashion School scholarship of your choice; two tickets to the VIP reception and Saturday night show; one show catalog; and special recognition in the show program and catalog. For more information and to purchase Sponsor/VIP Show tickets, visit www.kent.edu/fashion/annual-fashion-show.
The Annual Fashion Show also will be presented as a matinee (1 p.m.) and awards show (7 p.m.) on Friday, April 29. Tickets for these performances go on sale beginning March 28 at www.kent.edu/fashion.
Josie Cruz Natori (née Josephina Almeda Cruz) is founder and CEO of the Natori Company lifestyle brand, which sells lingerie, sleepwear, ready-to-wear and more to retailers worldwide. Born in the Philippines and drawn to art and music, Natori immigrated to New York to pursue a career in business. She graduated from Manhattanville College with an economics degree and joined Merrill Lynch, where she became the first female vice president in investment banking.
She entered the world of fashion in 1977 when, on a whim, she showed a Filipino embroidered blouse to a buyer at Bloomingdale’s. The buyer suggested she lengthen the blouse and sell it as a sleepshirt – and so the Natori Company was born. The company has expanded to include the brand collections Josie Natori, Natori, Josie and N Natori, with products ranging from ready-to-wear, eveningwear, lingerie and sleepwear to home textiles and accessories, bath, fragrance and legwear.
Natori sits on the boards of the Asian Cultural Council, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Fashion and Design Council of the Philippines. She also is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and the Committee of 200. Natori received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 at the Femmy Awards Gala, the premier fundraising event in the intimate apparel industry. She received the Galleon Award from Philippines President Corazon Aquino in 1988 and the Lakandula Award from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2007. Fashion Group International has honored her with its Humanitarian Award.
For more information about Kent State’s Fashion School, visit www.kent.edu/fashion.