This past week the ABC featured a documentary Step Into Paradise described as:
The extraordinary story of iconic fashion designers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, whose pioneering style created a bold and unashamedly Australian fashion identity. (2020)
You can view the ABC’s Step into Paradise documentary on iView
Exhibition Walkthrough:
The Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson: Step into Paradise exhibition featured at the Powerhouse in 2019.
Take a step back with this short video walk though of this amazing exhibition:
Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson:
In the mid 1970s Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson began to forge a unique vision of Australian dress, one that did not look to the trend-driven fashion mainstream for inspiration but drew on the Australian environment with creativity and flair. When the pair first met in 1973, both felt an immediate connection and Kee began stocking Jackson’s original designs in her flamboyant Flamingo Park Frock Salon in Sydney’s Strand Arcade. Together, with a group of creative collaborators, they showcased their designs in the annual Flamingo Follies fashion parades, transforming Australian fashion with their colourful expressions of the country’s natural and cultural landscape. The Museum houses an extensive record of their partnership and individual careers, including artworks, textiles, photographs, videos, and sketches which can all be accessed via the Museum’s online collection.
The Exhibition:
Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson: Step Into Paradise captures the dynamic energy of the designers and their creative partnership. It draws on more than four decades of one of the most influential pairings in the history of Australian fashion, examining the influences, inspirations and the compelling stories behind their work.
Over 150 garments, textiles, photographs and artworks from the Powerhouse’s own extensive collection are brought together with the designers’ personal archives. Visitors will experience a re-imagination of Jenny Kee’s Flamingo Park Frock Salon originally located at Sydney’s Strand arcade, where the creative partnership between Linda and Jenny began, and where they conceived their annual Flamingo Follies fashion parades.
Step into Paradise highlights the key influences in their creative practice including the Australian bush, Great Barrier Reef, opals and waratahs, branching into their distinctive individual careers through to recent years including Jenny’s costume designs for the Sydney Olympic Games and both designers collaborations with Australian designers Romance Was Born. The exhibition makes visible the dynamic creative energy of Sydney that has been present over generations.
Highlight pieces on display include a suit from Karl Lagerfeld’s first collection for Chanel in 1983 featuring Jenny Kee’s Black Opal print, Linda Jackson’s iconic flower-form Waratah dress, Kee’s Blinky koala jumper, a style famously worn by Diana, the Princess of Wales, a handpainted Gladioli dress by Jackson, worn by Marcia Hines, the spectacular ‘Frida Exotica’ costume designed by Jenny Kee for the arrivals section of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Jackson’s ‘Glacier gown and Penguin coat’ worn in Antarctica by Nell Schofield for a Vogue Living assignment.