Agus Cattaneo is the founder of Learn While Exploring.

A fashion academic and an executive with more than 15 years of experience, Agus holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA), studied fashion design at Parsons the New School for Design and earned a master’s degree in global fashion management from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in collaboration with Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Institut Français de la Mode (IFM).

Agus’s career in fashion had an unusual start. Having earned her degree in accounting, she became a CPA and worked as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche in Buenos Aires. But then one day, a serious car accident left her confined to a bed for two months. During her recovery, with only the use of her hands to sketch and sew, she designed and launched her own apparel company. She developed the brand for two years until, inspired by her newfound passion, she moved to New York City to study fashion formally.

Today, Agus is a professor at the International Fashion Academy (IFA) in Paris, where she teaches both business and creative courses to bachelor’s and master’s degree candidates. At IFA, she also mentors several students and is a member of the jury that appraises the design students’ final collections.

Additionally, Agus is a fashion week regular. Twice a year, she travels to New York City, London, Milan and Paris to attend runway shows and presentations to identify new trends, a talent she mastered while working as head of trends for the prominent South American department store Falabella. Her spot-on trend roundups are regularly featured in La Nación and other newspapers.

Agus is a fashion authority in high demand for her global perspective and versatility as a creative with an acute business sense. She has addressed corporate and consumer audiences at seminars and workshops around the world on topics such as retail, trends and consumer habits. She has also been featured as a keynote presenter at several international fashion film festivals.

In 2018, Agus was selected as a creative director for the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Aid to Artisans. In this capacity, she traveled to Lesotho for a project funded by the World Bank. Once there, she collaborated with local artisans, leveraging their craftsmanship to develop several new fashion collections according to her innovative design concepts. The collections were sold in the United States.

Agus has taught at FIT in New York City, Polimoda in Florence, CEDIM in Mexico, Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic and Istituto Marangoni in Paris.

She and her work have been featured in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Hola! and Caras, to name a few. Known for her entrepreneurial spirit, positive outlook and passion, a recent profile of Agus in Hola! described her as “a woman with an eternal smile.”

Agus is a member of the French Heritage Society and the Fashion Group International.

AGUS CATTANEO

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