Loreta Corsetti

Biography

Gold Coast — Loreta Corsetti has a passion for the past, everything from the Italian Renaissance to the innovative age of Art Deco. By applying these aesthetics to her lavish line of chapeaux, Corsetti has built and tailored her millinery business to appeal to both art lover and hat connoisseur alike.

Trained in couture at Ray Vogue College of Design in Chicago, Miss Corsetti opened a boutique in 1989 featuring rare, vintage apparel along with her own unique designs. Almost immediately she noticed that her clientele were drawn to the hats she made mostly to adorn the shop. Recognizing the demand, she decided to streamline her business by converting retail to wholesale and focusing solely on millinery. Within two years she was selling her collections to the finest boutiques in the city.

A co-founder of The Millinery Arts Alliance and president for the last seven years. Corsetti has played an important part in fostering awareness of the art form. Through her work in the group, Chicago is now known internationally as one of the few cities to shop for fine millinery.

Loreta is known for her unequaled adornment and exquisite craftmanship, utilizing Old World techniques and the finest materials to produce innovative shapes. Her true art however is embellishment. When creating a chapeau, she incorporates the rare, vintage trims gathered from antique markets in Europe with her own detailing, silk rosettes, cut and curled feathers and intricate, hand beaded appliques, merging the past with the present. Though she is often found studying the work of the great designers like Balenciaga and Christian Dior, Loreta finds that embracing new and experimental techniques and ideas is the key to her success.

A high point in her career came in 2005 when Miss Corsetti and millinery colleague Laura Whitlock were commissioned to design and create the hats for director Robert Altman’s production of “A Wedding” which premiered at The Lyric Opera in Chicago. A rare opportunity considering that seldom does a head costume designer allow milliners that kind of freedom.

In Febuary of 2006, Loreta opened her millinery atelier in the Gold Coast . She wanted to create an atmosphere where women could enjoy the luxury of choosing the perfect chapeau or ordering a custom made piece. The room is extremely feminine with details like hand painted egret feathers on the ceiling, hanging crystal light fixtures and vintage hat prints from Paris. It reflects the mood of the original millinery salons in Europe. Clients range from socialites to women who save up just to treat themselves once or twice a year. With referrals from Neiman Marcus, Barneys and The Peninsula hotel, visitors to the atelier have come from as far as Australia, Spain, England and France. Not one of them left without a hatbox in hand. When everyone told her to leave Chicago for New York, Loreta replied, “A city cannot make you talented. Wherever you live your talent is within you. It goes where you go, wherever you are.”

Miss Corsetti recently achieved a life long goal in 2007 when she was awarded second place in the prestigious international hat competition, “Cappello del Mondo”and her work was chosen to be featured in a permanent exhibit at the Museo del Cappello in Italy. Loreta is the first milliner from the United States to ever receive this honor.