Fashion designer Ayako Koshino was born on June 15, 1913, in Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture. She is the mother of the three fashion designer sisters, Hiroko Koshino (designer of "Koshino Hiroko"), Junko Koshino (designer of "Junko Koshino"), and Michiko Koshino (designer of "Michiko London").

She was born as the eldest daughter of a kimono shop in Kishiwada, an area famous for its danjiri floats. She developed an interest in sewing from an early age and taught herself how to make clothes. After dropping out of high school, she trained at patch shops and men's clothing stores, before opening the "Koshino Dressmaking Shop" in 1934.

That same year, she married men's clothing tailor Takeichi Kawasaki. She gave birth to her eldest daughter, Hiroko, in 1937, her second daughter, Junko, in 1939, and her third daughter, Michiko, in 1943. Even after Takeichi died of illness during the war in 1945, she continued to run her dressmaking shop and raised three daughters on her own.

In 1988, at the age of 74, she fulfilled her dream of founding her own brand, "Ayako Koshino." She continued to work as a designer until her death in 2006 at the age of 92. The NHK morning drama "Carnation," which aired in 2011, was based on her life. Machiko Ono played the heroine, who was modeled after Ayako, and Mari Natsuki, who was a close friend of Ayako, played the heroine in her later years.