As a young girl growing up in the Philippines, Josie Natori was a child prodigy, learning to play piano at age 4 and appearing with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra at 9. Her mother played piano, her father was a self-made entrepreneur, and Natori was raised with success in mind.
“There was never a question that I would do what I wanted to do,” says Natori, now 74 and an international fashion designer who founded The Natori Company more than 40 years ago and still works every day. “In the Philippines, we have a matriarchal society. My grandmother and mother were strong women. I grew up believing women can be independent and make their own money.”
Based in New York with a home in Palm Beach, Natori will be honored with the Dress for Success Palm Beaches’ annual Style Icon Award during the Style for Hope luncheon March 11. Dress for Success is an international nonprofit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a support network, professional attire, and development tools.
“Josie is the embodiment of our credo to empower women,” says Faith Meyer, a Style for Hope co-chair and Dress for Success board member. “Like our past recipients—Iris Apfel in 2019 and Lilly Pulitzer posthumously in 2020—she is an inspirational trailblazer among women in business, fashion, and life.”
Natori notes that she came to fashion by accident, after bowing out of a musical career and working in finance as the first female vice president of Merrill Lynch.
“I got bored and eventually realized that I was lacking a creative outlet,” says Natori. “I [landed] in lingerie using sample embroideries from the Philippines. I approached it instinctively because I thought everything else on the market was either too matronly or risqué. I knew nobody. I was just intrigued by the challenge.”
The Natori Company is now a global fashion house, creating lingerie, loungewear, ready-to-wear, fine jewelry, footwear, menswear, dog attire, and soon children’s clothing and home products. The general design theme is East meets West, with prints and patterns that imbue an artistic flair.
“I have a nice showroom in Manhattan but constantly travel around the world for work,” says Natori. “During the pandemic, I designed a series of work-from-home clothing and also collaborated with Care+Wear for a line of scrubs inspired by our popular pajamas to help patients on dialysis. I want to improve the lives of people who are suffering.”
Natori is thrilled to receive the Dress for Success Style Icon Award because she
has always supported women through her work for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, I Support the Girls, and Women’s Prison Association.
“I especially enjoy the Dress for Success group, which is appropriate for me because I am in fashion,” she says. “I want to give back and do my part to help these women achieve greatness.”
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