THE ATELIER
NATALIA BAQUERO
Natalia Baquero is a Colombian-Canadian milliner whose practice operates at the intersection of couture, craftsmanship, sculptural expression, and cultural authorship. Her work positions millinery not as a fashion accessory, but as a living artistic discipline, one rooted in heritage techniques, identity, and transformation.
Born in Bogotá into a family of artists, Baquero developed an early sensitivity to form, symbolism, and material intelligence. In 2005, she relocated to Montréal, drawn by the city’s dynamic artistic ecosystem and driven by a clear personal ambition: to contribute to the highest levels of creative production.
Through discipline, persistence, and technical excellence, she worked her way into professional costume and fashion environments, refining a strong foundation in hand sewing and couture techniques.
This dedication led her to join the millinery and headpiece department at Cirque du Soleil, where she encountered millinery not merely as a function of costume, but as a powerful sculptural and narrative tool. It was within this context that she experienced a decisive artistic shift, a formative moment that transformed her professional trajectory and established millinery as the central language of her practice.
Following her time at Cirque du Soleil, Baquero developed an independent career designing headpieces and costumes for high-profile cultural, fashion, and entertainment contexts. Her work has been commissioned for internationally recognized performers, creative directors, fashion designers and institutions, including Celine Dion, La Zarra, Denis Gagnon, B.Åkerlund, Cirque Éloize, C2 Montréal, and the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, among others. Across these projects, the headpiece remained her primary site of exploration where craftsmanship, identity, and presence converge.
In 2020, Baquero formally launched Natalia Baquero Millinery, consolidating her practice under her own name and asserting a clear artistic position within Canadian fashion and craft. Her approach deliberately rejected mass production in favour of bespoke creation, sculptural experimentation, and uncompromising hand craftsmanship.
The opening of her gallery-atelier in Knowlton, Québec in 2023, marked a significant evolution of this vision. Conceived as an exhibition space rather than a traditional retail environment, the gallery presents hats as autonomous works of art.
This model has expanded public access to millinery as a cultural object, deepened engagement with her work, and reinforced her reputation as a leading voice in the contemporary revival of the craft.
Baquero’s recognition is grounded in excellence of craftsmanship. In 2025, one of her sculptural hats was acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for its permanent collection, affirming the artistic and cultural significance of her work. That same year, she was selected for the Homo Faber Artisans Guide by the Michelangelo Foundation, an international distinction awarded to artisans whose mastery, cultural contribution, and dedication to rare métiers meet the highest standards ofexcellence.
Today, Natalia Baquero stands as a reference-level milliner whose work contributes not only to fashion, but to the preservation, elevation, and future of millinery as an art form.
