Albertus Swanepoel to present handfinishing tech at Arts & Culture Fashion Seminar

06 Jul '05

3 min read

Fashion designer Albertus Swanepoel is going to in attendance at Arts & Culture Fashion Seminar in South Africa during July 28th July to 31st July 2005.

Millinery
Albertus will be hosting hands-on workshops each day at the Arts & Culture Fashion Seminar. Attendees will learn the principles of handblocking felt and straw hats. Also the handfinishing techniques and individual trimming styles will be emphasised, but mass production techniques will be explained as well. Making fabric hats and the method thereof will get equal attention as well as building a frame for a fabric hat on day two.

Born and bred in Pretoria, South Africa, Albertus Swanepoel moved to New York City in 1989 after a seven year career as a critically acclaimed fashion designer in Johannesburg under his Quartus Manna label.

In Manhattan he and Shaneen Huxham started a Ladies glove and hat company selling to department stores and boutiques worldwide. Albertus trained as a milliner under Janine Galimard, who worked for Balenciaga in Paris in the 50's and 60's. He assisted the well known hat designer Lola for several years on a freelance basis - also a theatrical milliner where he constructed hats for Broadway shows such as Kiss me Kate& Mamma Mia; as well as several operas and ballets. In 2000 he went solo and did hats for BCBG and Ralph Lauren's collections.

He has since been concentrating on Men's hats. His clients include Paul Smith's stores in New York and Paris for several years where he has a loyal following, Traffic in Beverley Hills, several boutiques in London and Tokyo and beginning Fall 2004 the prestigious Bergdorf Goodman in NYC.

In addition to his namesake label, he also works closely with New York designers and hand makes headpieces for Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Hererra and Vera Wang's Bridal Collections. He also has been making hats for Maggie Norris Couture and Marc by Marc Jacob's fashion shows for several seasons and just added Proenza Schouler as a client for Spring 2005.