Residence LA CaliforniaUSA Nationality Japanese | Name Kikka Hanazawa Education Columbia University | |
Born October 26, 1970 (age 53) ( 1970-10-26 ) Tokyo, Japan Alma mater Columbia University (B.A.)
Harvard Business School (M.B.A.) Occupation CEO at
VPL (brand) / Founder of Fashion Girls for Humanity | ||
Kikka Hanazawa (born October 26, 1970) is a Japanese investor and fashion industry executive. She is an investor of various social enterprise businesses including VPL, a woman's wear company dedicated to women's education, and founded Fashion Girls for Humanity in New York, a non profit humanitarian organization.
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Early life and education
Hanazawa is a daughter of Ikue Hanazawa and Kiyoshi Yokoyama of Japan. Her father was a business entrepreneur-turned Tendai Buddhist monk, and her mother Ikue Hanazawa owned an haute couture fashion business. Her aunt was Tomiyo Hanazawa who designed modern kimono for Chiyo Uno and staged the first kimono fashion show in the US in 1957. Both Tomiyo and Ikue started their careers in fashion working for Uno Chiyo, a well known feminist author in Japan, who founded Sutairu ("Style"), Japan's first fashion magazine in 1936, along with the boutique in Ginza. During the Second World War, however, it was suppressed by government censors, who found the articles they wrote on themes like "Proper Underwear - a Must for Western Dresses" not in keeping with the seriousness of the times. But the unsinkable they resurrected it during the Occupation. Following Chiyo Uno's advice to be an independent woman, neither Tomiyo nor Ikue Hanazawa were ever married and became very involved in fashion business with Chiyo Uno for much of their lives.
While Hanazawa grew up surrounded by these professional working women, she had no interest in fashion as a career and came to New York in 1989 to attend Columbia University with no financial support. In order to fund her own education, she held various positions at Itochu and J. Crew. In 2000 she finally graduated magna cum laude in art history / architecture theory. She also graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 2002.
Career
Hanazawa's first job was selling American vintage clothes in Shibuya. Prior to starting non profit and social ventures, she took various jobs and internships, including Itochu, J. Crew, Andersen Consulting, TPG and Theory. In 2006, Hanazawa invested in VPL (brand) and became president of the company. VPL is sold globally including Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Ikram, Fred Segal, and Harvey Nichols, and it has been worn by celebrities like Gwen Stefani and Victoria Beckham. VPL received numerous industry recognition, including Ecco Domani, CFDA/Vogue fashion fund finalist, and CFDA Lexus Sustainability award.
In 2010 with Miki Higasa, Tomoko Ogura and Julie Gilhart, Hanazawa founded Fashion Girls for Japan. They together organized a successful designer sale in NY, Japan and London to benefit Japanese earthquake victims. Fashion Girls for Japan was renamed to Fashion Girls for Humanity in response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the fund helped the restoration of more than 5 fire stations and various individual homes in NJ and Long Island. The online auction in December 2013 to help survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines raised the fund to purchase water filters distributed by Waves for Water. In 2014 Hanazawa was selected as one of Forbes Asia 48 Heroes of Philanthropists. Fashion Girls for Humanity became a recipient for Asia Society's Game Changer Award in 2014. In 2015 Fashion Girls raised the fund for Shikshya Foundation and Waves for Water to benefit earthquake victims in Nepal.
Hanazawa served on the finance committee for CFDA as well as a panel for CFDA Fashion Incubator program.