About the Founder
Born in Austria, Waltraud Reiner went on to millinery in London.
Since graduating from Fashion School in Austria in 1978, Waltraud Reiner has made her name in millinery and fashion and has followed her passion for hats in Australia and worldwide.
During her 4 years in London Waltraud trained under Royal Milliner, Rose Cory, for whom she developed the highest regard. She went on to work for Philip Somerville, milliner to Princess Diana, then migrated to Melbourne, Australia, where she opened her made-to-measure studio, receiving clients By Appointment Only.
Waltraud became a senior lecturer at Kangan Batman TAFE for 13 years, where she was instrumental in moulding the curriculum for today's 4-year Millinery Certificate course in Australia.
Waltraud founded the Melbourne School of Millinery at the famous Meat Market Craft Centre in 1994. She has also had numerous solo exhibitions in Australia, and currently travels regularly as a lecturer throughout rural and urban Australia, as well as to USA, UK, Europe, Scandinavia, Israel and Asia, where she conducts popular workshops.
Waltraud writes for the 'Fibre Forum Magazine' and she instigated Hat Extravaganza, which continues to run in a new format, and Hat Week, whose goal was to link hats and mental wellbeing
Why do I do what I do???
"A hat is not just a hat to keep the sun off your face or keep you warm in winter. A hat is the expression of a woman's soul. It might get you a sweetheart, or get you a job. But a hat is so much more. A hat is the expression of a woman's soul." So said Lilly Dache in NY in the 1930s.
Hats for me are my soulfood; they bring me joy, they give me strength. My hat can tell you a story about me and how you want to read me, or how I want you to see me. Through hats I have gained many friendships in Australia and overseas. When you wear a hat people smile at you (for whatever reason, but they do smile). A hat helps people to start a conversation. Wearing hats and changing hats is what we as women do all our lives. My assorted metaphoric hats are with me all the time, visible to others, and more often than not they help me through the day to deal with my own stories and worries.
In 1978, after 4 years of an Austrian fashion degree, I knew I still had to pursue a further life direction, and knew that I would find it somehow. A number of jobs took me to different parts of Germany, and when I ended up as a ski instructor I was even more convinced there was more to life than telling jokes and drinking schnapps. But with no idea what that might be, I took the bold step of travelling as far away as I could imagine: Australia. I was broke, had no idea about travel on the cheap, and was surprised to discover that Australia was 10 hours ahead of Europe. Thus it was, that after crying my way round the country for a couple of months, I ended up in Melbourne, in a factory packing plastic chess sets and bathroom hooks.
I went on to become a nanny in Toorak and later in Caulfield. It was on that job, one afternoon, that I walked into Magda Urban's hat shop in Hawthorn Rd to try on some hats and waste some time. Magda approached me, and, to justify my presence, I asked her if she needed an apprentice. 'No, I don't,' she replied, 'but I do need a helper. Can you sew?' I launched into a description of my fashion degree, merely trying to escape elegantly. 'I don't believe in papers,' responded the pragmatic Magda, dryly. A day of work with her that following Saturday and she would tell me whether I were to be a milliner or not. (A milliner??? What is that?? I wondered).
So as I sat that Saturday, in that dark, unfriendly work room, I was handed a purple brim with a red edge (a combination, according to my schooling, I was NEVER to put together, although I had always loved it) Magda showed me how to stitch a head band into a hat. That day it all dawned on me. I discovered where my soul, my intuition, my passion resided. A deep and warm feeling of unique excitement started in my stomach and spread through my whole body. That feeling is with me still today. Tears welled in my eyes, and I knew my long, long, often painful search had finally found its home, that this was the beginning of an incredible and fulfilling journey.
What was about to unfold, and the unforeseen places it would take me 4 years later, when I bought Magda's shop, was beyond my wildest imaginings. I had embarked on a new pathway.
The Hat has been with me every day since then, and I think it will be always thus, until my dying day, and beyond, for I hope they will leave my hat on.
