Olga Horak b. 1926

  • Designer
Olga Horak, born in 1926, is a Holocaust survivor. She arrived in Australia in 1949 with her husband John Horak where they established the Hibodress Garment Factory.
Tags: Sydney, Sydney Jewish Museum, Dressing Sydney Exhibition, Clothing Design, Clothing Industry
You are viewing the version of bio from Feb. 5, 2013, 12:31 p.m. , as edited by Jenni Hagedorn (moderator approved).
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Name
Olga Horak
Gender
Female
Roles
  • Designer
Tags:
Sydney
Sydney Jewish Museum
Dressing Sydney Exhibition
Clothing Design
Clothing Industry
Birth date
1926
Birth place
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (Slovakia)
Arrival
  • 1949
Cultural Heritage
  • Jewish

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Biography
Date modified Feb. 5, 2013, 12:31 p.m. Dec. 7, 2012, 2:22 p.m.
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’, thoughwever, in 1990, the business ran into trouble after three robberies cleared the business of its entire stock. ¶