Why Australia’s original fashion influencer Jenny Kee is still going strong after five decades
- David Bowie, Lauren Bacall and Sophia Loren were fans of her Flamingo Park boutique in Sydney, and she partied with rock stars in the 1960s
- A pregnant Princess Diana famously wore Kee’s Blinky jumper, and Karl Lagerfeld used her prints in his debut Chanel collection
From hanging with rock gods in the Swinging Sixties to putting Australia on the fashion map and surviving the country’s worst rail disaster, Jenny Kee had a lot of stories to tell in her 2006 biography, A Big Life.
Thirteen years later, she looks to be gathering enough material for a second volume. “I’m on a roller coaster,” says Kee, who at 72 is experiencing something of a career renaissance.
Kee’s psychedelic personal style and signature silk scarves and knits emblazoned with images of Australiana have been rediscovered by a new generation, and Kee and her long-time creative sidekick Linda Jackson – who were both made Officers of the Order of Australia in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List – are finally being recognised as national treasures.
In October, Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum will stage what it is describing as the first definitive survey of their work.
Due to run from October 17 until March 22, 2020 and featuring over 150 garments, accessories, artworks and photographs, “Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson: Step Into Paradise” will focus on their careers, especially their seminal Flamingo Park partnership and boutique, which operated from 1973 to 1995 in Sydney’s Victorian-era Strand Arcade.
“Step into paradise” was the inscription on a sign that hung over Flamingo Park’s front door.
