Josie Natori interview, 2017 June 12, 2017 June 12
Scope and Contents
Josie Natori, founder of The Natori Company, met with Phyllis Dillon to discuss her career as a lingerie designer. Growing up in the Philippines, Josie Natori was surrounded by go-getters; her father, aunts and uncles, and paternal grandmother were all successful entrepreneurs. Natori shares how after seven years of working on Wall Street, she no longer felt excited by it, leading her to look for a new career. She found it in fashion. At first, Natori bought and sold Fillipino-designed garments in the American market before growing her brand into one of the largest selling lingerie brands in the country. Natori treats her designs as clothes first; clothes that people just happen to sleep in. Discussing her growth into foreign markets, Natori shares her thoughts on changing times and the development of online shopping. Natori reveals that she finds designing lingerie so rewarding because it is such a personal set of garments for a woman to buy and (she hopes) loves
Dates
- Creation: 2017 June 12
Creator
- Dillon, Phyllis (Person)
- Natori, Josie Cruz (1947 May 9 -) (Person)
Language of Materials
English Latin
Conditions Governing Access
Access is open to researchers by appointment at the Fashion Institute of Technology Library, Department of Special Collections and FIT Archive. If you have any questions, or wish to schedule an appointment contact us at [email protected] or call (212) 217-4385.
The contents of this collection are also available to the public via our Archive on Demand repository: https://archiveondemand.fitnyc.edu/items/browse?collection=22
Biographical / Historical
Phyllis Dillon is an Independent Scholar and Consulting Museum Curator. She has worked for over 35 years in the fields of costume and textile studies, and in museums as a textile conservator, curator and arts administrator. She was a textile conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Textile Conservation Workshop. In the 1980s-90s she was a grants officer at the New York State Council on the Arts in the Museum Program. In that position she oversaw the distribution of millions of dollars to Museum’s statewide.
For the last 20 years she has concentrated her research on the history of the Jewish role in the American garment industry and the history of ready-made clothing. She was Main Researcher and Associate Curator of the National Endowment for the Humanities funded exhibit: “A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry 1860-1960 at Yeshiva University Museum in the Center for Jewish History in 2005 and co-authored the catalogue of the same name. She also had an article in a second book called A Perfect Fit published by Texas University Tech in 2012.
She was Associate Producer and Main Researcher on a documentary film called “Dressing America: Tales from the Garment Center (2014) in collaboration with Pacific Street Films . The film showed in international film festivals and was aired on PBS in 2014 and 2016.
Her latest publication is a chapter co-written with British business historian Andrew Godley about the history of the American garment industry in the book Chosen Capital: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism from Rutgers University Press (July 2012).
She holds a Certificate in Museum Studies and an M.A. in anthropology from New York University. She was awarded a Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship to Great Britain in 1981 to study the differences between American and British Art Conservation Services and has lectured widely. Since 2016 she has researched and done selected oral history interviews of senior members of the Fashion Industry for the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Biographical / Historical
Josie Natori is a Filipino-American fashion designer espeicially known for her sleep and loungewear brand, The Natori Company.
Full Extent
From the Sub-Group: 1 placeholder
Existence and Location of Copies
https://youtu.be/g9fB_Q63lcc
General
Phyllis Dillon is an Independent Scholar and Consulting Museum Curator. She has worked for over 35 years in the fields of costume and textile studies, and in museums as a textile conservator, curator and arts administrator. She was a textile conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Textile Conservation Workshop. In the 1980s-90s she was a grants officer at the New York State Council on the Arts in the Museum Program. In that position she oversaw the distribution of millions of dollars to Museum’s statewide.
For the last 20 years she has concentrated her research on the history of the Jewish role in the American garment industry and the history of ready-made clothing. She was Main Researcher and Associate Curator of the National Endowment for the Humanities funded exhibit: “A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry 1860-1960 at Yeshiva University Museum in the Center for Jewish History in 2005 and co-authored the catalogue of the same name. She also had an article in a second book called A Perfect Fit published by Texas University Tech in 2012.
She was Associate Producer and Main Researcher on a documentary film called “Dressing America: Tales from the Garment Center (2014) in collaboration with Pacific Street Films . The film showed in international film festivals and was aired on PBS in 2014 and 2016.
Her latest publication is a chapter co-written with British business historian Andrew Godley about the history of the American garment industry in the book Chosen Capital: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism from Rutgers University Press (July 2012).
She holds a Certificate in Museum Studies and an M.A. in anthropology from New York University. She was awarded a Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship to Great Britain in 1981 to study the differences between American and British Art Conservation Services and has lectured widely. Since 2016 she has researched and done selected oral history interviews of senior members of the Fashion Industry for the Fashion Institute of Technology.
General
Josie Natori is a Filipino-American fashion designer espeicially known for her sleep and loungewear brand, The Natori Company.
General
Published
Subject
- Dillon, Phyllis (subject, Person)
- Natori, Josie Cruz (1947 May 9 -) (subject, Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and FIT Archive Repository