Japan's Oscar-winning designer Ishioka dies: reports

Oscar-winning Japanese costume designer Eiko Ishioka has died of pancreatic cancer in Tokyo, local media said Friday. She was 73.

Ishioka, who worked across print and screen, had been based in New York but returned to Tokyo last year because of her illness and died on January 21, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said, quoting her US-based manager.

Ishioka, born in Tokyo in 1938, began her career by working at Japanese cosmetic maker Shiseido's public relation division after graduating from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1966.Ishioka won a Grammy Award for the artwork for jazz legend Miles Davis' "Tutu" in 1987 and an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1993.Japan's leading art director also designed costumes for the Broadway musical "Spiderman". (AFP)