Stellar achievement by Stellie

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MOSSEL BAY NEWS AND VIDEO - A Mossel Bay fashion designer achieved the success of being one of the four designers to create dresses for the Mrs South Africa pageant finalists.

Local business woman Stellie Taute's designs were modelled by eight of the 27 finalists at the pageant crowning at Emperor's Palace, Johannesburg, on Friday, 11 November.

There were 28 finalists and then one withdrew from the competition before the crowning.

Taute herself had to appear on stage with the eight finalists who wore her designs and she wore one of the dresses in the range.

Taute worked on the dresses with her staff: her children's range designer Sunique Visser, graphic designer Annemie Bette, seamstress Amanda Laverlot and Glen Klein (print and press).

PHOTO GALLERY: Mossel Bay fashion designer's dresses used in Mrs SA pageant

Taute, whose business is called Loka, has owned a clothing factory in Mossel Bay for the past two years and she has four Loka boutiques in South Africa, including one in Mossel Bay.

She has more than 30 agents selling her clothing in South Africa and one in New Zealand and another in Australia.

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She was given the opportunity to design the dresses because her ambassador for her children's clothing range, Zelrie Steyn, who was in the Mrs South Africa contest, recommended to the Mrs South Africa organisers that Taute be one of the dress designers for the pageant finalists.

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Taute was Steyn's sponsor for the pageant.

Taute told Mossel Bay Advertiser this week that it had been a stressful experience designing the dresses and she was glad it went smoothly.

The group of finalists who wore Taute's designs fitted the completed gowns on Wednesday, 9 November - only two days before the crowning.

Taute says that amazingly they fitted well and only minor alterations had to be done. She and her staff had only had the women's measurements to follow in making the dresses.

The fabric, scuba, and tulle were used for the floor-length gowns. Taute explains that graphic designer Sunique Visser created all the dress and textile designs on a computer programme. The fabric designs were then printed on white scuba - even the diamante details. Taute says real diamante were sewn on to the dresses to ensure they sparkled on the catwalk.

Taute, who comes from Bethlehem in the Free State originally, trained at a private fashion academy in Pretoria "many years ago", she says, and she then created wedding gowns for 22 years. "I am currently designing casualwear so creating the ballgowns was a challenge," she says.

She thanked her husband and children for their "love, support and understanding" in the run-up to the pageant final.

The scuba divas. Stellie Taute (fourth from left) with some of the Mrs South Africa finalists, wearing her dress designs. Next to Taute (black dress) is her staffer, Sunique Visser. Photo: Amorie Pearson