Olga Horak was born in Czechoslovakia. The only surviving member of her family, she was liberated in Bergen-Belsen aged 19. In 1948, with her husband John Horak, she fled to Zurich and then immigrated to Australia in 1949.
Shortly after arriving in Australia, Horak, a self-taught seamstress, started to design and make blouses for the couples new business, Hibodress. Alongside her husband, a graduate of the Textile Academy in Brno, they experimented with different seasonal styles. Horak recalls, “the fashion scene here was a shock because of the different climate. People didn’t need the same clothing. People from Europe wanted to have something European. I wanted to introduce something fresh and new. I liked to design. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. When I had to produce a new range every season, every blouse had to be different, and made from a different fabric.”
In the mid-1960s, Horak, in collaboration with Pan American Airlines, planned a mid-air fashion parade to raise funds for B’nai B’rith, a Jewish Service organisation combating antisemitism and bigotry against Jewish people.
Years later, Horak opened a small boutique on Sydney’s North Shore called ‘Olga Horak’, though, in 1990, the business ran into trouble after three robberies cleared the business of its entire stock.
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2012
- Last updated:
- 2012
