BUSINESS BRAIN
Leigh started her career in commercial design and manufacture for Ninian & Lester where, with her strong business acumen and sharp eye for commercial trends, quality and fit, quickly moved up the ranks to become the company’s youngest merchandiser. Realising there was still much to learn on the business side of fashion, Leigh went onto buying for South Africa’s largest and fastest growing retail chain, Mr Price. Her years at the company gave her invaluable experience in clothing retail, financial planning and range assorting.
CLOTHING DNA
Leigh Schubert creates sophisticated ladieswear with a twist from clean lines to texture created by pleats, appliqués ribbons or ruffles and combinations of soft and hard – always elegant and inherently wearable. The Leigh Schubert signature style is accessible and classic yet always full of interest.
COLLECTION INSPIRATION
The Leigh Schubert Summer 2012 Collection to be unveiled at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Cape Town has been inspired by the strength of women and the daily challenges they face as mothers, wives, friends, business people and citizens. The colors are bold and strong, yet feminine and playful. The shapes allow for freedom, movement, expression and sex appeal while the treatment will combine soft with hard, multilayersandpeek-throughdetailsthatsymbolizethepowerthatwomen carrybeneaththeirsoftfaçade.
ACCOLADES
After winning the “Invited Designer” category in the Durban Designer Collection, Leigh decided to launch her label “Leigh Schubert“ in 2002. Since then she has been nominated twice for the Marie Claire Prix de Excellence Awards for “Best South African Emerging Designer”, winning the citation in 2006. Her collections have been shown at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, South African Sanlam Fashion Week, Audi Joburg Fashion Week, MTN Durban Fashion Week and Nokia Cape Town Fashion week – all to critical acclaim. Leigh was handpicked as one of 10 designers to exhibit in an installation show in Sydney alongside such designers as Akira Isogawa. Most recently she has exported to one of the US’s most upmarket department stores, Nordstrom, which is stocking her garments in their new Treasure & Bond store which opened in New York in August 2011 and a second order shipped in February 2012. She was also selected to design South Africa’s kit to be worn by the country’s Olympians for the launch of the forth-coming London Olympics.
