Catherine finds millinery more rewarding than working in dentistry
19 September 2003
Catherine Grounds of Arthurs Creek has won the Tertiary Student-Millinery Award at the 30th anniversary of the annual Golden Gown Awards held recently in Wagga Wagga.
After working as a dental nurse for 21 years, Catherine decided that she wanted a change in her profession and enrolled in the Certificate II in Millinery at Kangan Batman TAFE’s Richmond campus.
Catherine, who is the mother of two school-age children wants to move into a full-time career in hat design after she completes her three year part-time course.
“This is my first year in the course and after two more years of part-time study I will come out with a Certificate IV in Millinery. Ideally I would like to open my own shop, but I might have to work with an established milliner to get started initially. I would also really like to work for the Melbourne Theatre Company if I get the opportunity.”
“My teacher, Waltraud Reiner, has been my biggest inspiration. She is a hard driver and a perfectionist. She encouraged me to enter the Golden Gown Competition and I’m really glad that I did,” she says.
This year the Golden Gown Awards celebrated its 30 years of recognising and rewarding designers of the future. Designs ranged from bridal, to formal wear, millinery, wool creations, race wear and theatre costumes.
Catherine’s winning design was a fuchsia pink free-form sinamay (a fabric made out of banana fibre) with hand made camellias also in fuchsia pink with a touch of black.
“I thought of the design after attending a workshop in Sydney with my teacher Waltraud, the workshop was about using free-form sinamay in different designs and I just loved the look and the feel of the different creations,” says Catherine.
“I am working on many new hat designs at the moment and will submit some for the upcoming Fashion Studies Department’s Millinery Soiree in October that will showcase the creations of many talented up and coming hat designers studying at Kangan Batman TAFE’s Fashion Studies Department,” she says.
Kangan Batman TAFE’s Fashion Studies Department is hosting a Millinery Soiree just in time for spring on 15 October at the Fenix Restaurant in Richmond in Melbourne. A similar soiree was held same time last year with a tremendously positive response. Many hat lovers came for a look at what’s hot in hat design.
