In a YStyle exclusive, famed milliner Albertus Swanepoel welcomes us into his studio and talks about Anna Wintour, Yoko Ono, and why his Bench collaboration makes a lot of sense.
MANILA, Philippines - Are we there yet?” I wondered, surveying my immediate environment, a rainy, narrow street on the edge of the garment district. The weather had put a damper on the proceedings, emphasizing New York’s less admirable traits—littered pathways, fading buildings, and a strange potpourri of various smells.
It was hardly the place you saw in your head, when you thought of Albertus Swanepoel’s famous hats, seen on the famous heads of the likes of everyone from Kate Winslet to Emma Stone. But it was the area we had found ourselves in.
Six months ago, I was in New York City on a work trip with the Bench team, led by main man Ben Chan and on this foray, stylist Noel Manapat. On the trip, they let me in on a little secret: the Philippine-born retail brand was in the process of working on a collaboration with CFDA/Vogue Fund Award finalist Albertus Swanepoel, a milliner who had put himself on the map through notable collaborations with everyone from Proenza Schoueler to J. Crew and the magnificent hats that he was slowly building a formidable brand on. They allowed me and photographer Edric Chen an exclusive peek at this process—a visit to his New York studio.
Born and raised in a South Africa in the midst of apartheid, Swanepoel found fashion late in life, explaining that they didn’t even have Vogue back home. “I was in my final year in school and it was for four hours every day,” he says. “In that way, I am sort of almost grateful because growing up, I had to sort of amuse myself all the time.”
Since becoming a finalist in the 2008 CFDA/Vogue Fund Award, he’s seen his career sky rocket. He was already an open secret among some of New York’s top designers (Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schoeler, for example) in 2008, but the win opened him up to the whole industry. Soon, Henri Bendel and Neiman Marcus came calling; and later on, J. Crew, Gap, and Target.
When he talked about Africa, you saw the drive that would eventually take him places. “I sort of feel grateful in a way because it taught me how to look for things and be more curious. That’s also what’s extraordinary about Africa, you have very little to work with, but they create the most amazing things out of that… Because in America there’s so much. It’s all excess and it’s almost a matter of editing all the time. You can have everything.” Six months ago, in his little corner of the Big Apple, you could see that same creativity and resourcefulness flourish in a small studio near the city’s garment district. Perhaps it’s the same make-the-most-with-so-little attitude that makes him a perfect collaborator for Bench, a Filipino brand that’s grown from a humble corner in a department store to become the country’s top retail brand, with branches all over the world.
This week, Swanepoel is in Manila for the launch of his collaboration with Bench, consisting of a hat exhibit and a creative talk at the Bench Tower yesterday. In this YStyle exclusive, Albertus Swaneopoel opens up his studio to us and talks Vogue, Yoko Ono, and the importance of Anna Wintour.
YSTYLE: I was reading through your online bio, and I was so impressed with how varied your collaborations have been. I know some designers will get snooty, like “I’m not doing a Target line” and stuff like that, but I love that you’ve done everything from J. Crew to Proenza (Schouler) to Gap. What do you look for when fielding collaborations? What is the ideal match for you?
Albertus Swanepoel: I think the ideal match is definitely something like Bench, or like what I did with Target. Because they gave me complete free rein and said, “Just do what you love doing or do things you think is special or that you love, or signature pieces of yours.” Obviously that’s one of the most amazing ways to do collaboration, but I really love also — even with all the designers, I’m almost with them more as a contractor — executing ideas.
They (designers) would give me very specific guidelines in terms of what they want, so I facilitate it for them. It’s hardly ever my idea. I can suggest things because technically they don’t really know how hats are made so I say, “This can work, we can do this, we can’t do this.” But I love the challenge those collaborations bring because they make me work with tricky fabrics sometimes, and that’s a challenge for me technically.
I think it’s incredible with Target, the same thing with Bench, my hats are usually pretty expensive, they’re like $300 or $400 in stores, and Target sold my hat for $20. They did an unbelievable job. I find that very impressive and sort of amazing, that it can be done.
When collaborating, how do you make sure you retain your brand identity, as well as your collaborator’s vision?
I think it’s very important for me that the quality is still great because I know it’s not done in a millinery studio. It’s done offshore, especially if I produce a lot of units, so it’s important to me that the quality is great. I will never do something that looks absolutely horrible and put my name on it. Even if it’s a factory in the east, or wherever they do it, the proportions, the fabric also needs to be great. And it still has to have my signature.
Because a hat is such a small thing, I do a lot of detail work, so it’s very important to me that I convey those details in the hat. That’s as much as you can wish for. You obviously don’t have total control and things do go wrong. But I have no ego. Alexander McQueen and Gaultier have worked with Target, so when I was doing it, the whole thing was already over, the “It’s bad for the brand.” I don’t think it hurts the brand. It’s almost like a compliment.
Let’s talk about the Bench collaboration. How did they approach you, and what was running through your mind when you got the initial proposal?
They emailed me and asked if I wanted to do a collaboration with them. I went on the website and I looked at the work, obviously loved it, then had a meeting with them, and we just started off from there. I was making samples, and now we’re in the process of editing and seeing shots and stuff.
I think it’s an amazing opportunity because I’m not selling in that part of the world, and I don’t think I’m known there, so it’s an extraordinary opportunity for me to get my name out there and be represented there. I’m very grateful and very excited. And you’re all super nice people.
Bench is Philippine-grown but international, quickly expanding in other markets. What about the brand did you respond to?
I knew a lot about the Philippines, your fabrics, even colors, and I loved all that oriental… even that stuff that looks like aztec. There was a lot of visual stuff that I really loved. It seems like you are much more maximalist than minimalist, and I related to the aesthetics. Especially with Bench, what I’m doing is really beautiful and stylish. There’s a lot of integrity with the brand. And fashion people know what Bench is, even here [New York]. Those in the know, know the label.
The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition was a big turning point for you. Do you remember the moment when everything changed?
Yes, it was definitely the hardest thing I ever did, and I don’t think I would have had this career if I didn’t enter that competition. To be honest, it happened before that, because in 2006 I was already doing runway shows, and I did a show for Proenza, in which I used these black cloches, like beaver felt cloches, and every single model was wearing one. It had a very big impact on the runway, and there was a woman from Style.com who thought my name was very interesting, and she contacted me and wanted to write a profile on me.
She interviewed me and then they literally published a 20-page thing on me, that I was already working with Marc Jacobs, and my own work. I woke up the next morning and there was an email from Henri Bendel and Neiman Marcus, all these buyers, wanting to see my collection. I didn’t have a collection! I was just making stuff for designers. And I was working for other milliners.
So in two weeks I slammed a collection together and went to see all these stores. I went to Barneys and Julie Gilhart was the creative director, this extraordinary woman, and she was also one of the judges at the fashion fund. In the fashion fund, you have to be in business for two years, and have employees. I entered the competition and she was on the panel of judges with Anna Wintour and Reed Krakoff, so I think it helped that I was in Barneys and she sort of championed my work.
I met Anna Wintour for the first time, and she’s been incredibly supportive of my work in the magazine. We had 15 minutes in front of all the judges, which was unbelievably nerve-wracking. It was an extraordinary experience. I really didn’t I think I was going to be anything because they were saying, “You’re too small.” My company is still small now. but it was really small then. But I think they realized I really needed the money and it would help me. That’s sort of what the competition started off as, to help emerging people.
The funny thing is, the night of the awards, it was Charlize Theron and John Galliano who were the presenters and giving the awards. I met him and it was a pretty bizarre experience because someone was combing his hair while I was talking to him. And there was another guy fiddling with his jacket, and it was very bizarre.
From that, we got Gap. Gap was part of the prize. J. Crew approached me, and all these people. That really put me on the map. After the fund, every stylist, every accessory director in magazines know who you are and contact you, and I got an insane amount of publicity because of that, which helped.
Everyone from Yoko Ono to Emma Stone has worn your hats. Is there anyone in particular where you said “Wow, that’s awesome.”
Yoko Ono was pretty amazing. It was funny because I sent these hats to a shoot, and she actually wanted to buy the hat so I said, “Sure,” and I got a check from Yoko Ono-Lennon. That was pretty amazing for me.
They get hats for every shoot. I know how tough it is to get something published, so I’m really happy every time I get press from a thing. They did a shoot with David Gandy for GQ China and he was holding one of my hats, but you can just see the edge. At least David Gandy touched my hat so I was very happy about that. (Laughs)
Another really amazing thing is that Kate Winslet did a book a few years ago called The Golden Hat, and she has a charity for autism and she had a hat of mine that she bought at Paul Smith. And she took this hat and gave it to a hundred celebrities (from Zac Efron to Meryl Streep) to photograph themselves in. So there’s a gazillion people wearing my hat. The entire book was just my hat with all these people. That was a pretty great moment for me.
What or who is inspiring you right now?
At the moment I have this thing about working more with my hands and making flowers. I think I’m moving slightly to a romantic thing. I’m always inspired by opera. I think it’s because of the larger-than-life quality, and the costumes, and the set, and the music. I don’t really have a specific muse or somebody that I would like to wear my hats, I also don’t make statement pieces so to me it’s more about everyday great-looking hats.
It’s funny to me because I’m older but my inspiration is always classic or things from the past. Whether it’s old movies, old costumes, opera music. I’m not really inspired by the newest band or fashion. Or like Charles James. I haven’t seen (the exhibition) but I bought the book. I think his sense of color is unbelievable, the way he combined colors. I definitely want to incorporate some of that in my new collection. And the sort of structural, I want to try. I hope my work is modern, even if my inspiration is not the newest punk band or whatever. I’m sort of nostalgic in my head.
Albertus Swanepoel's greatest hits
Proenza Schouler; First runway collaboration with Albertus Swanepoel
Jennifer Aniston is seen in a swirled-feather fedora hat on the TV show 30 Rock
In March, Swanepoel is nominated for a CFDA Award
He collaborated with Narciso Rodriguez, Carolina Herrera, and Derek Lam for their fall/winter 2010 shows
Albertus Swanepoel collaborates with retail giant Target
W, Vanity Fair, and Vogue feature his hats all in the same year