In an exclusive interview with Options at the Park Hyatt in Seoul, Korea last month, Ackermann says, “I have this beautiful memory of the Sahara at twilight, when the men turned towards the sun to pray. I was in a jeep and I could see this image of black and navy blue fabric blowing in the wind, and it gave me goosebumps, as it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.” Ackermann was in Seoul for the presentation of his fall/winter collection to the press.
Haider Ackermann, creative director of Berluti, is a dreamer. He advises aspiring designers never to stop dreaming, as it can, and will, lead to bigger things in life.
Most great fashion designers get their start when they are given their very first sewing machine, as in the case of Isaac Mizrahi or Gianni Versace, who was influenced by his dressmaker mother. Unlike these designers, however, Haider Ackermann knew he wanted to be in fashion when he saw a group of women walking in the Sahara Desert and was seduced by the movement and colours of the fabric they were wearing. Although he was only six years old then, it stirred something in him as he witnessed this as well as the veiled women in the shadows as they floated through the medinas — the narrow, walled streets of North Africa.
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