FASHION
JENNY KEE // FASHION DESIGNERI first connected with fashion because my mum was very stylish.
Her sisters were couture sewers and they used to make all her
clothes. I guess that sort of rubbed off onto me. When I was at
school, I constantly wanted to have my own look. I was lucky
enough to have a dressmaker, so Mum and I would go out and
buy the fabric of my choice, then I would style it and ask my
dressmaker to make it look exactly like that.
In 1962, I was 15 and didn’t really want to go to school
anymore, because it was pretty boring back in the day. I said,
“I’m going to leave and you can’t make me continue and I want
to do dress design.” I carried on and carried on until I got my
way. I went to dress design college at East Sydney Tech, as it
was called in those days, but I found it a pretty boring course
because it was all about sewing and learning to make patterns.
I wasn’t interested in that. I was interested in the whole look of
something, but I didn’t want to have to make it, and I still don’t.
I don’t even knit.
I worked in the Chelsea Antique Market in London in the ’60s
and very early ’70s. Coming back to Australia, I knew I had to
do something that was not like anything I’d ever seen. It was so
exciting to be back here, and my fellow designer Linda Jackson
and I started dreaming up things that were Australian, but very
unselfconsciously so. We just wanted to create things that had
the flavour of the country. So Linda created appliqué Opera House
dresses, and I created knits with koalas and kangaroos and
kookaburras on them.
There was no business plan and I wasn’t a fantastic businesswoman,
but I managed. It probably would have been good to have a proper
business manager to help grow the business. But, you know what?
I don’t know if I can really say that, because it was what it was, and
it went the way it went, and everything was perfect about it, really.
Even when it started not doing so well, that was also perfect.
If you have an idea, go for it. Take it to the limit of what it
can be. Of course, you have to look at what everyone else is
doing, but really try to work from that part of yourself that can
discard everything else and say, “This is the idea I have.” I also
think you’ve got to be out there with friends, otherwise it’s
really difficult. Meeting Linda was the beginning of my great
love affair with fashion. I don’t think it was luck, us meeting –
I think it was destiny.
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MUSIC
MYF WARHURST // RADIO ANNOUNCER AND TV PERSONALITYI thought I was going to be a music teacher or a concert pianist or
something. I worked really hard in year 12 to do the music course
at Melbourne Uni. I have a feeling I got in on the country quota.
Watching everybody around me perform, I realised that, while
I loved it and I was OK, I didn’t have the magic you need to be able to
do it. After the first year, I didn’t fail – though I probably came pretty
close – then I crossed over and did an arts degree and majored in
fine art. It’s good to still be able to play piano, but I can’t play well.
If people come around to my place, I Phil Collins them out the door
when they leave – if I’ve imbibed enough.Growing up in a small country town, I hadn’t seen many bands –
maybe one or two. We had to go to Adelaide on a bus to see anything
big, and that was six hours away. So, when I got to Melbourne, I kind
of lost my mind. I was going out all the time and seeing things, and
I hadn’t lost that love of music, so I started thinking how I could
incorporate my musical knowledge into something relevant and
contemporary. I started to write for Inpress, which was a local street
press magazine, doing gig and CD reviews. After a couple of years,
I got the gig as the music editor, and that’s how it all started.We’re sold this fantasy that you get this great job, you have this great
success, and then you’re sorted for the rest of your life. Not the case.
As you’ll find with most musicians, they might have a high, then
somehow they’ve got to sustain a career. I think it’s quite difficult to
manage the down times. When you’ve got a gig that pays well, be
really careful with it, because it doesn’t last. Nothing really does in
this industry, I don’t think. And it’s a long life. You might go really well
in your 20s, but you’ve still got to be doing this in your 50s, and it’s like,
“Oh god, OK, how do I manage that?” No one tells you about that.Don’t wait for someone to come along and help you. It might
mean a lot more work on the admin side for the artist, but it also
means a lot more control, and you’re a lot less likely to be ripped
off by other people. I look at many successful artists, and what
makes their work good is their belief. You want to be a part of
that. They’re not trying to write stuff they think you’ll like – they’re
writing stuff that they like, that’s the difference. If you’ve got
something to say, say it and do it and believe it....................
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