Tag Archive for 'Jenny Kee'

Jenny Kee, Chanel, ‘Princess Di’ (and a passing reference to David Bowie)

Published on July 1, 2011 by Glynis Jones in Fashion, Costume and Dress and Object of the week. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .
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98/180/1-23/1 full page advertisement for Canadian Pacific Airlines featuring Jenny Kee, The Australian, 6 Oct, 1964. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Anyone who has read Jenny Kee’s fascinating biography A Big Life Jenny Kee (Jenny Kee with Samantha Trenoweth, Penguin Group, 2006) will appreciate how apt the title is. From modelling as the face of Canadian Pacific Airlines and spending a memorable night with John Lennon during the Beatles Australian tour in 1964 to selling vintage Schiaparelli jackets to Mick Jagger at the Chelsea Antique market in London, surviving the Granville train disaster in 1977 and campaigning for the conservation of NSW old growth forests Jenny’s adventurous spirit and creativity has seen her involved in many of the key social movements and events of the last fifty years.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that using the Jenny Kee fashion and textile collection and archive I can link Kee with some of the 20th centuries iconic personalities -Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, Diana, Princess of Wales and David Bowie.

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98/180/1-30/31 The Australian Women's Weekly Features a 16 page special colour report on Australia's worst train disaster at Granville Station, 2 Feb 1977. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Jenny Kee along with creative partner Linda Jackson is best known for creating a unique vision of Australian dress, one that didn’t look to the trend-driven fashion mainstream for inspiration but drew on Australia’s cultural and natural landscape melded with an eclectic assortment of ideas drawn from colour theory, art history, theatre, Chinese opera, Buddhism, European haute couture as well as the dress and textiles of other cultural and indigenous communities. Retailing from the hot pink interior of Kee’s Flamingo Park frock salon in Sydney’s Strand Arcade their work was never simply an enthusiastic sourcing of ingredients from a local and global supermarket of style but drew on their emotional, spiritual and aesthetic response to the causes and communities that inspired them and which they in return supported. Kee has long been a passionate supporter and spokesperson for the conservation movement in Australia.

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98/180/1-29/8 Loose leaf album created by Grace Ramsden, daughter of Jenny Kee documenting the campaign to stop logging in the South East Forests of New South Wales. Collection: Powerhouse Museum.

Kee first met Karl Lagerfeld in 1977 when she and Jackson took their Flamingo Park fashion collection to Milan. Influential Vogue Italia editor Anna Piaggi featured them in a quirky two page spread entitled ‘Australian Graffiti’

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Flamingo Park collection featured in Italian Voque, December 1977. From 'A Big Life; Jenny Kee'.

Piaggi gave them tickets for the Milan fashion shows which they attended in an ever changing array of their own spectacular garments, and at a dinner held by Nally Bellati at Solferino’s, they actually received a standing ovation from the crème of European fashion – just for looking fabulous. In her book Kee recalls

I wore my knitted Flamingo Park Collage coat, shocking-pink Thai-silk harem pants, turban and favourite Sex stilettos. I cinched the coat in super tight at the waist with a pink Thai-silk cummerbund. Linda wore a black, silver and blue Chinese Opera costume with a pleated taffeta skirt. We swanned in, and sitting at a long table were the stars of seventies fashion …Kenzo, Ken Scott, Karl Lagerfeld, Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani; and illustrator Antonia Lopez. The assembled guests turned to watch our entrance. Some of them even jumped up on the table and applauded.

A Big Life pge 188.

Back in Australia Kee began to focus on the opal as a source of inspiration and after much experimentation discovered watercolours were the best medium to capture their shimmering colours. It was through collage that she brought her designs to life; tearing her paintings into rough pieces she layed them out on a black ground-they looked sensational. However she found textile printers in Australia lacked the facilities to successfully print her complex multicoloured designs. It was not until 1980 when Kee met Fabio Belotti of Milan based company Rainbow Fabrics she found someone with the technology and the discrimination to realize her designs. Bellotti left her artwork virtually untouched including the rough torn edges of each ‘opal’ piece as part of the design. Two years after Black Opal was first printed Kee received a phone call from Bellotti asking if it was OK for Karl Lagerfeld to use Black Opal in his first prêt-and-porter collection for Chanel in 1983.

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99/6/25 Chanel Suit. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Jenny Kee didn’t receive a sample of the outfits from the Chanel collection but subsequently located this suit, now in the Museum’s collection, in a second hand store in New York. It was her size and had never been worn and she recalls turning up to the shop ‘decked out’ in bright layers of her clothes and saying to the shop assistant I’ll have that…The little lady in this op shop looked at me and said “yeh you know this is a Chanel suit, it would have been sold before, the buttons and everything are beautiful but people don’t like the lining”. I looked at her and said “I did the lining”, she looked me up and down and said “Yeh, I guess you would of done that lining. I’m glad you’’e getting your suit” [Interview with GJ 1993].

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99/6/25-1 Chanel Jacket with lining featuring Jenny Kee's design. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

The Black Opal print was the perfect tool for Lagerfeld’s homage to, and deconstruction of the classic Chanel look, the formality of the traditional hounds-tooth check contrasting with the bold, vibrancy of Kee’s Black Opal print blouse and lining. Some of you may have a piece of the Black Opal print in your own home. Kee later design a new version appropriately titled Opal Love for Sheridan to use in bed linen.

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98/180/1-16/55/1 Artwork for Kee's 'opal' design used for Sheridan doona covers. Collection: Powerhouse Museumm

Another international celebrity Kee was to connect with was Diana, Princess of Wales. When Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 Kim Wran the daughter of New South Wales Premier, Neville Wran presented the couple with a pair of Flamingo Park his and hers koala and kangaroo jumpers designed by Jenny Kee. A year later photos of Diana at a polo match wearing the koala jumper with a map of Australia on her back made newspaper headlines. The accompanying text ranged from discussing Diana’s independent, ‘utterly practical and thoroughly modern’ way of dressing in contrast to ‘the old pearled, permed and tiara’s monarchy’ to declaring she was pushing for Charles to be Governor General of Australia.

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98/180/1-30/122 Front page of Daily Mirror newspaper with a photograph of Princess Diana wearing the koala jumper designed by Jenny Kee, Daily Mirror, London, 3 May 1982. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

As a result Jenny Kee was bombarded with orders for her knits and asked to design a ‘Blinki Di’ version for Australian Women’s Weekly readers to make at home.

Even David Bowie purchased a ‘Blinky’ jumper on his visit to Australia in 1984.

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98/180/1-2 Invoice and statement books (83), Jenny Kee, Sydney, 1973 – 1993. Collection: Powerhouse Museum.

The jumper also led to Jenny receiving an invitation to attend a dinner in honour of Prince Charles and Diana at the Governor General’s residence during the royal tour to Australia in 1983. Jenny recalled It was a funny night. At the Governor Generals’ residence Michael and I lined up with the other guests, who included Bob and Hazel Hawke, Sir Mark Oliphant and Sir Donald Bradman, to be briefed on royal etiquette. We practiced our curtseys while we waited for Charles and Di. Then cocktails were served-and served and served. By the time we sat down to dinner we were plastered. My peas shot across the table to Nell Schofield opposite, who was giggling, and when I was finally introduced to the Princess I called her Di-a terrible faux pas. I apologized profusely, but she was all warmth and grace. No, please call me Di, she said, and went on to explain she’d put my name on the guest list herself because she loved my jumpers. I knew Manolo (Blahnik) designed her shoes and when I mentioned his name her face lit up. Suddenly we weren’t guests at a formal dinner; we were just two gals talking about our favourite shoe designer. (A Big Life Jenny Kee, 226-228)

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98/180/1-10/16/1.Entree card, Jenny Kee for dinner at Government House 1983. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Do you have a story or photograph about a Jenny Kee outfit you had in your wardrobe?

Meet the curator- Glynis Jones

Published on October 8, 2010 by Glynis Jones in Curator profiles, Fashion, Costume and Dress and Object of the week. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .
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Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Name: Glynis Jones (I often receive phone calls from gentlemen of a certain age who ask me if I appeared in Mary Poppins!!).

What is your specialty area? I completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Archaeology and Fine Arts and a postgraduate degree in Museum Studies. It was working as an archaeologist on the excavation of the First Government House site on Bridge St that gave me first hand experience of studying the past through artefacts. The glass, ceramics, drains, bones and clay pipes left me with a vivid impression of early colonial occupation of the area.

I joined the Museum as an Assistant Registrar, cataloguing the textiles and dress collection and from there became Assistant Curator and then Curator of fashion and dress. I look after a very diverse collection area covering men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and accessories ranging from elaborate embroidered waistcoats dating from the 1700s to the work of contemporary international and Australian fashion labels including Chanel, Akira Isogawa and Romance Was Born. We also have important designer archives from Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson including their original artwork for textiles and garments, stunning fashion photography and even business records. In addition there are significant manufacturer’s archives from companies like Speedo which document the evolution of competitive swimwear from the racer back woollen Speedos of the 1930s to today’s high tech suits. Through filmed interviews and photography we collect and document the richness and diversity of subcultural and alternative dressing in Australia, from Mods to Metalheads and Goths to DIY punks.

How long have you been working at the Museum? Since 1985

Favourite object in the collection? I love wearing elastic sided boots and never get over the thrill of looking at the first pair of ‘elastic’ sided boots invented by Joseph Sparkes Hall (94/88/1). These very dainty boots are Sparkes Hall’s prototype version of the elastic-sided boot and were presented to Queen Victoria in 1837. At the time they hadn’t perfected the use of elastic rubber in clothing so the gussets are actually made of coiled wire, Sparkes Hall had to wait a few years for rubber technology to catch up with his invention. Another favourite is a collection of photographs by Melbourne based photographer Ilana Rose which document aspects of subcultural and alternative style in Sydney and Melbourne. I love Ilana’s ability to capture her subject’s often spectacular and highly expressive style. I also can’t go past the extraordinary dress embroidered by outsider artist Madge Gill. Made in the 1940s it’s a simple cotton dress which is covered in an explosion of bold freestyle embroidery. And then there’s……………………………..

What piece of research or exhibition are you most proud of in your career at the Museum? Initiating the collecting and documenting of Australian subcultural and alternative style as part of our dress collection. This is one of the most creative and innovative areas of dress; the richness and diversity of its expressions, the way it challenges or reworks traditions and aesthetic codes and the play on gender, age, race, status and body image means the study of subcultural style offers us new ways of thinking about dress. From this research I was able to contribute an article on the history of Australian subcultural style to the recently published Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion.

In terms of exhibitions I loved working on Sourcing the Muse. Eight Australian designers were invited to look through the Museum’s textile and dress collection and select items to use as a source of inspiration for a new work. It was fascinating to see what they chose and to watch the creative process as they translated their inspiration into a finished garment. They didn’t focus on the most visually spectacular or historically significant pieces in the collection. Instead I found them to be most attracted to details of construction, the inside of garments, dress components, decorative techniques from all around the world and in one case the deterioration of historic dress. I enjoy taking designers and researchers into our basement store; they always make me look at the collection in new ways.

Chanel at the Powerhouse

Published on July 6, 2009 by Melanie Pitkin in Design and Designers and Object of the week. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .
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Designed by Chanel. Collection, Powerhouse Museum

The recent release of the new Coco Avant Chanel film inspired me to revisit the Museum’s very own collection of Chanel fashion to see just how much we hold which dates before the designer’s death in 1971.

From humble beginnings, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel started her career in fashion by designing and selling hats to French aristocrats, opening her own millinery shop in 1910 and combined millinery and fashion house in Paris in 1913. Her initial clothing designs were fashioned from low cost materials, such as jersey (used in men’s underwear!), including her trademark tailored suits, which had a prepossessing boyish look about them. In the years that followed, Coco had also introduced her signature No.5 perfume (1922), woollen cardigan jacket (1925) and ‘little black dress’ (1926) – classic and timeless additions to any woman’s wardrobe.

The earliest item in the Museum’s collection therefore comes at least a decade after this – a c.1938 full-length evening dress with cape. The dress echoes the atmosphere of Paris in the 1930s and was probably made not long before Coco closed the doors of her salon when France declared war on Germany in 1939. Jumping a further few decades, the Museum also houses two tweed suits (comprising a long sleeved jacket and knee length skirt) made from wool, dating to c.1965.

Unfortunately, the film did not cover much of Coco’s later fashions – in fact, it never even made it to WWII – but the whirlwind catwalk display at the end at least foreshadows many of the styles later adopted by Karl Lagerfeld when he took over as chief designer of the fashion house in 1983. The Museum’s collection from this point in time includes one of Lagerfeld’s very first creations for Chanel, or should I say “dinky-dye creations“! It is a black and white houndstooth jacket and skirt lined in Jenny Kee’s ‘Black Opal’ print with a matching print shirt. Jenny Kee met Karl Lagerfeld through some friends in the early 1980s and he was suitably impressed by what she was wearing. Not long after, he requested to use the print, which Kee allowed at no cost.

Another stunning Lagerfeld design in the Museum’s collection is the ensemble showcased as part of the 1991 Spring-Summer prêt-à-porter collection, which comprises a fluorescent pink suit (jacket and skirt) with matching hat, shoes, handbag and earrings, all with their own individual protective packaging boxes and bags. This suit, if only accompanied by an extra bottle of Bollinger, just yells “Patsy” from Absolutely Fabulous each time I look at it! Or, perhaps, if you are a Simpsons fan, you will recall the episode in which Marge buys the suit at a marked down price and finds it nets her and the family an invitation to the swish Springfield Country Club!

I often wonder what Coco would make of the whole Chanel Empire today? Would she approve of Karl Lagerfeld’s designs and the interlocking ‘CC’ logo? What would she think of today’s fashion culture and stick-thin models parading her clothes? How would she do things differently?

Any thoughts?