Josie Natori: Lace and steel
March 11, 2007 | 12:00am
Her femininity and fragile frame belie the steel backbone of investment banker-turned-designer Josie Cruz Natori, the first Filipina to establish a world-class New-York-based brand, Natori. In Japanese, natori means, "the highest form of art."
In the past 35 years, 30 of which were spent in the world of design, Josie has assumed more than just her husband Ken’s name. She assumed its meaning. She has, indeed, made every Natori on the rack a natori.
Josie’s femininity embroiders her life, the fabric of which is soft, velvety, but not wispy  it can and has withstood the elements, lace embroidery intact.
"I come from a family of very strong women. My grandmother Josefa Almeda was a very strong woman and I was the eldest of 33 grandchildren. I grew up in an atmosphere where there were a lot of expectations. My father (Felipe Cruz) used to call my grandmother supreme commander-in-chief, and my mother (Angelita) was the commander-in-chief."
Having come from a home where the hand that rocked the cradle held the purse-strings, Josie, even in America, was never daunted. "No one stopped me from becoming whatever I wanted to be. I had no feelings of inferiority. I never had the feeling that I was less than the men. I always felt that I could be what I wanted to be. Nobody could stop me."
Her confidence and her lola’s entrepreneurial legacy encouraged her to think out of the box. Taking a break from Wall Street (she was the first female vice president of investment banking at Merrill Lynch) she presented some hand-embroidered Philippine-made blouses to a buyer at Bloomingdale’s, who suggested that Josie lengthen the blouses and turn them into nightshirts. They were such a hit that soon, Josie had to kiss investment banking goodbye.
Turning an asset of her countrymen  dainty craftsmanship  into her strength, Josie would then lace the fashion world with a whole new way of dressing. From embroidered blouses, Josie turned inward to lingerie, and from that day on, fashionable women never took their lingerie for granted again. It became okay to let your slip show  as long as it was a Natori.
"Lingerie," says Josie, who learned to play the piano at the age of four, "is an expression of yourself. If you don’t feel good about yourself, you wear your crappy stuff. Lingerie is femininity."
Why should a woman invest in lingerie? "Because like fragrance, it’s the closest thing to touch your skin," she smiles, a dimple peeping from behind a lock of her Paris-cut hair.
"If you were to ask me my two greatest assets, I would say number one, my being a woman and two, my being a Filipina," says the 88-lb. Josie. (We are at the impeccable French colonial mansion of her brother Philip Cruz and his wife Ching in Makati and Josie tells us she keeps her svelte figure by usually skipping lunch.)
Last Wednesday, in celebration of International Women’s Day, Josie was conferred by President Arroyo the Order of Lakandula. Despite her numerous awards and her global business (which now has four lines of lingerie, Josie Natori, Natori, Josie and Cruz), Josie, who employs 1,000 workers and sub-contractors in her Philippine factory, doesn’t want to be remembered for the name she has made in design.
"I think that my life and everything in my life is a means to an end. And to me the end is making a difference in people’s lives. Whatever you do, it’s like giving back. I don’t want to be known for what I have done in fashion, I want to be known for making a difference in the lives of others."
Beautiful and feminine as lace. Strong as steel. So natori.
In the past 35 years, 30 of which were spent in the world of design, Josie has assumed more than just her husband Ken’s name. She assumed its meaning. She has, indeed, made every Natori on the rack a natori.
Josie’s femininity embroiders her life, the fabric of which is soft, velvety, but not wispy  it can and has withstood the elements, lace embroidery intact.
"I come from a family of very strong women. My grandmother Josefa Almeda was a very strong woman and I was the eldest of 33 grandchildren. I grew up in an atmosphere where there were a lot of expectations. My father (Felipe Cruz) used to call my grandmother supreme commander-in-chief, and my mother (Angelita) was the commander-in-chief."
Having come from a home where the hand that rocked the cradle held the purse-strings, Josie, even in America, was never daunted. "No one stopped me from becoming whatever I wanted to be. I had no feelings of inferiority. I never had the feeling that I was less than the men. I always felt that I could be what I wanted to be. Nobody could stop me."
Her confidence and her lola’s entrepreneurial legacy encouraged her to think out of the box. Taking a break from Wall Street (she was the first female vice president of investment banking at Merrill Lynch) she presented some hand-embroidered Philippine-made blouses to a buyer at Bloomingdale’s, who suggested that Josie lengthen the blouses and turn them into nightshirts. They were such a hit that soon, Josie had to kiss investment banking goodbye.
Turning an asset of her countrymen  dainty craftsmanship  into her strength, Josie would then lace the fashion world with a whole new way of dressing. From embroidered blouses, Josie turned inward to lingerie, and from that day on, fashionable women never took their lingerie for granted again. It became okay to let your slip show  as long as it was a Natori.
"Lingerie," says Josie, who learned to play the piano at the age of four, "is an expression of yourself. If you don’t feel good about yourself, you wear your crappy stuff. Lingerie is femininity."
Why should a woman invest in lingerie? "Because like fragrance, it’s the closest thing to touch your skin," she smiles, a dimple peeping from behind a lock of her Paris-cut hair.
"If you were to ask me my two greatest assets, I would say number one, my being a woman and two, my being a Filipina," says the 88-lb. Josie. (We are at the impeccable French colonial mansion of her brother Philip Cruz and his wife Ching in Makati and Josie tells us she keeps her svelte figure by usually skipping lunch.)
Last Wednesday, in celebration of International Women’s Day, Josie was conferred by President Arroyo the Order of Lakandula. Despite her numerous awards and her global business (which now has four lines of lingerie, Josie Natori, Natori, Josie and Cruz), Josie, who employs 1,000 workers and sub-contractors in her Philippine factory, doesn’t want to be remembered for the name she has made in design.
"I think that my life and everything in my life is a means to an end. And to me the end is making a difference in people’s lives. Whatever you do, it’s like giving back. I don’t want to be known for what I have done in fashion, I want to be known for making a difference in the lives of others."
Beautiful and feminine as lace. Strong as steel. So natori.
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