Fashion designer Mariko Koga was born on July 30, 1949, in Hiroshima Prefecture.
She dropped out of Tokyo Gakugei University and went on to Bunka Fashion College. After graduating, she joined Roma Iwashima, an apparel company that was a pioneer in ready-to-wear. She then moved to Nicole, where she worked as a designer for "NICOLE" and "ZELDA." In 1989, she changed the brand name of ZELDA to "MARIKO KOHGA." Based on the concept of "clothes that allow women to be women," she developed items centered on dresses and other items.
In 1996, she launched "MARIKO KOHGA Fil Dore," a formal fashion line for adult women, through Tokyo Soir, a company that deals in formal wear. She founded Mariko Kohga in March 1998, and the following year, launched Universal Wear at Japan Creation through the NUC Japan Uniform Center, a Cabinet Office-certified organization that researches and develops uniform designs for companies and various organizations, including office uniforms. In 2005, she became a director of the Japan Uniform Center (now a Public Interest Incorporated Foundation). While managing the brand and serving as a director, she also served as chief designer for World Co., Ltd.'s brand, LAMiAViTA, from 2004 to 2007. She has also been a special lecturer at Bunka Fashion College and Showa Women's University since 2009. While currently working as a designer, she is active in a wide range of fields in the fashion industry, having opened Mariko Kohga Lumias, a dress salon in Daikanyama, Tokyo, in January 2014, where customers can rent Mariko Kohga's original dresses.