Expo, Hotel Uniforms Working in Osaka, a city she loves, is rewarding and enjoyable.
Guests of the RIHGA Royal Hotel:
Fashion Designer Junko Koshino
Junko Koshino was born and raised in Kishiwada City in Osaka, and attended Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. Since then, she has been based in Tokyo—an active presence not only domestically but also on the global stage. Due to her work on Expo 2025 in Osaka, she has been staying in Osaka more frequently, and she has made the RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka her regular choice for lodging, while fully enjoying the city of Osaka during breaks in her busy work schedule. Ms. Koshino is energetically engaged across various areas including work, Osaka, and the expo, and I asked about her recent activities.
Osaka has become much more familiar.
Ms. Koshino says she didn’t actually have much of a connection to Osaka, because she moved from Kishiwada City to Tokyo at the end of her teens and has lived in Tokyo ever since. She apparently visited Osaka several times during Expo ‘70, but her appointment as Senior Advisor for Expo 2025 brought her back to the city regularly. She’s been making frequent trips since the project launched six years ago in 2019.
She also handled uniform designs for her alma mater Kishiwada High School, the RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka, Nankai Electric Railway, and others, quickly turning Osaka into a familiar presence.
“It felt like things suddenly came rushing toward me from Osaka with a ‘BOOM!’ (laughs). The distance really shrunk, and I became a total Osaka fan. The food is delicious, and above all, I love the tone of Osaka people’s Osaka dialect. They’re positive, cheerful, interesting, powerful, and very charming, I think.”
Ms. Koshino has decided to make the RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka her regular choice for lodging when visiting Osaka. She always stays in her favorite room and uses the hotel as a base to enjoy both work and private time.
“I think the RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka is a wonderful hotel that Japan can be proud of internationally. My mother loved this hotel, and I often stayed here with her. My impression as a guest is that they provide elegant hospitality while also taking care of fine details, allowing me to relax as if I were at home.”
Infusing design with the idea of “combining tradition with innovation”
On April 1 of this year, RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka made a new start as part of the Vignette Collection, one of the collection brands of IHG Hotels & Resorts. In conjunction with this new start, it was decided to completely renew the uniforms for the Accommodation Department, and Ms. Koshino was chosen to handle the design.
Based on the concept of “combining tradition and innovation,” she aimed for simple and beautiful uniforms that wouldn’t feel dated even 10 or 20 years from now. Hotel uniforms must not upstage guests, and it must be clear at a glance that the wearer is hotel staff. This time, she also handled uniform designs for directors, bellhops, and front desk staff, but she wanted to express overall unity and cohesion as a team.
“Getting out of the car, checking in in the lobby, and being escorted to your room—those moments begin the story of one’s hotel stay. The uniforms that guests see first are very important to that story. So I pursued a design that is beautiful, elegant, and looks crisp and flattering on anyone regardless of characteristics like gender, age, or size.”
The base color is a chic charcoal gray that gives a softer and warmer impression than black, with thin purple lines as an accent. The combination of purple and gray is said to be an excellent color scheme from a color theory perspective. There’s also a charming touch in the back design… An ultra-fine V-line panel runs from the collar down the back, using satin fabric that gives the V-line a subtle shimmer depending on the lighting. Also, the women’s staff jackets have peplums added to the hem, creating graceful movement with each step and conveying refined charm.
“Guests see the backs of hotel staff more often than you’d expect when having their luggage carried or being escorted to their rooms. So I added vibrance to the back details as well. I strived for the most beautiful, visually appealing design and colors, while harmonizing with the hotel’s wonderful lobby space, including the colors of the check-in counter tapestry created by the long-established Kyoto Nishijin brocade house HOSOO.”
The new design, which seems to capture in condensed form Ms. Koshino’s first-hand experience of the hotel’s appeal, should provide guests with the utmost comfort and relaxation.
Osaka: a place she wants to keep visiting in the future.
Ms. Koshino serves not only as a Senior Advisor for Expo 2025 but is also handling uniform design for the corporate pavilion of Takara Belmont (Chuo Ward, Osaka). This is a company that also exhibited at Expo ‘70, and Ms. Koshino designed the uniforms in 1970 as well. This is truly a deeply connected job!
“The concept for the new expo’s uniforms is ‘the future.’ I unified them in silver and white, aiming for a design that can be worn regardless of gender or age. I think the use of light-reflecting materials creates an outfit with sparkle and presence. During the previous expo, I was still in my twenties, so I was fixated on designing something I myself would want to wear, but this time I was free from such thoughts and envisioned an elusive world of the distant future. Uniforms are extremely important not only for those who see them but also for those who wear them. It’s crucial that the moment you put on a uniform, your “professional” switch clicks on and you can properly shift between on and off modes. I wanted people to feel pride along with a sense of responsibility for their workplace when wearing the uniform.”
She says that being able to do important and rewarding work like designing uniforms for local hotels and expo pavilions in the energetic, dynamic, and charming city of Osaka is the life event she is happiest about and most proud of.
“The expo is still continuing, so I plan to visit Osaka many more times for both business and personal reasons. Of course I will stay here at the RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka, so I want to immerse myself in the comfortable hospitality, recharge my energy, and enjoy both my work and the expo to the fullest.”
Interview / Mae Kori
Photography / Ichiro Takase
Location / RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka,Vignette Collection Main Lounge
Junko Koshino
Born in Kishiwada, Osaka. While a student at Bunka Fashion College, she won the Soen Award, the gateway to success for new designers, at the youngest age of 19. 22 years of participation in the Paris Collections from 1978, and has held shows in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Beijing, Vietnam, Poland, Cuba, Spain, and elsewhere. She has been active in international cultural exchange. She has designed costumes for the operas “The Magic Flute” and “Madame Butterfly,” the Broadway musical “Pacific Overtures” (Tony Award nomination), stage costumes for DRUM TAO, sports uniforms, fireworks and interior design, etc. Ambassador to VISIT JAPAN, Senior Advisor to the Japan Association for the International Exposition, 2025, member of the Osaka-Kansai Expo Event Review Committee, member of the Planning Committee for the Japan Expo, Agency for Cultural Affairs, and Person of Cultural Merit; awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by the French government in 2021 and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 2022.
RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka, Vignette Collection
TEL +81 (0)6-6448-1121
5-3-68 Nakanoshima,Kita-ku,
Osaka 530-0005 Japan
