NEW YORK, Jun 3, 2002/ --- Hanae Mori has filed for bankruptcy with the Tokyo District Court. The Japanese fashion house has debts totaling an estimated $80 million.

The company plans to liquidate itself, but the brand will stay alive. It sold most of its pręt-a-porter and licensed apparel business to an investment group led by Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. in March.

Designer Hanae Mori opened her Tokyo atelier in 1951, presented her debut New York collection ("East Meets West") in 1965 and opened an haute couture showroom in Paris in 1977.

She was the first Japanese designer to show her haute couture collection in Paris, and was named a member of La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.

Former Neiman Marcus chairman Stanley Marcus once said of Mori, "Her Oriental color palette, her masterful handling of diaphanous fabrics like chiffon, which she floated over hand-painted and beaded foundations, gave a sense of security to the social leaders who adopted her clothes... Thanks to Hanae Mori, the prevailing concept that 'made in Japan' meant cheap, poor quality goods was forever destroyed."

Stateswomen from Princess Grace to Hillary Clinton have worn Mori's designs.

In the '80s, at the height of its success, the Hanae Mori house posted annual sales of more than $300 million.

Since the mid-'90s, however, the company has struggled to survive amidst Japan's economic slump, and last year's revenues dropped to $152 million.

Hanae Mori has about 60 retail outlets in Japan and one each in New York and Paris.