Oscar-winning costume designer Emi Wada dies

Gulf Today Report

Japanese costume designer Emi Wada, who won an Oscar for her work on Akira Kurosawa's 1985 movie "Ran", has died aged 84, local media reported on Sunday, citing her family.

Wada died on Nov. 13 and a service was held with family and close friends, according to the reports, without citing a cause of death.

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Born in Kyoto, Wada began work while still a student at Kyoto City University of Arts. She also created costumes for theatre and dance productions.

Japanese costume designer Emi Wada speaks in an interview in Tokyo. File/AP

As well as working with Kurosawa, Wada designed costumes for many international films including Peter Greenaway's "Prospero's Books" (1991) and Zhang Yimou's "Hero" (2002) and "House of Flying Daggers" (2004).

She continued to work in her 80s, creating costumes for Ann Hui's "Love After Love", which premiered at the 2020 Venice International Film Festival.

Her husband Ben Wada, a director whom she married when she was 20, helped her get her first costuming jobs. He died in 2011.

"Over the 60 years I’ve been doing this work, I’ve never gotten tired of it. I see myself as really lucky,” Wada said in a 2017 video message for the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Funeral services were held with family and close friends, media reports said.