Jenny Kee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jenny Kee AO
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Jenny Kee in October 2012
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| Born |
Jennifer Margaret Kee
24 January 1947 Bondi, New South Wales, Australia
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| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
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Label(s)
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Flamingo Park |
| Awards | Officer of the Order of Australia (2018) |
Jenny Margaret Kee (born 24 January 1947) is a famous Australian fashion designer. She is known for her bright, colourful clothing that features Australian plants and animals. Her unique designs helped create a special Australian style that is recognized around the world.
Contents
Early Life and First Steps in Fashion
Jenny Kee was born in Bondi, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Her father was Chinese, and her mother was an Australian with Italian and English roots. Her Chinese great-grandparents came to Australia during the gold rush in the 1870s.
As a teenager, Jenny studied fashion at East Sydney Technical College but left before finishing. When she was 18, she moved to London, England. There, she began her career as a model and was even featured in ads for an airline.
Career as a Designer
Swinging London and a New Start
In the 1960s, London was the center of a vibrant youth culture known as Swinging London. Jenny became part of this exciting scene. She sold unique second-hand clothes to young people called hippies at the famous Chelsea Antique Market.
In 1972, she returned to Australia with new ideas. The next year, she opened her own fashion store called Flamingo Park in Sydney.
Creating a Unique Australian Style
Jenny Kee began working with another designer, Linda Jackson. Together, they wanted to create a fashion style that was truly Australian. They designed colourful jumpers made from pure Australian wool. These jumpers were decorated with images of Australian animals (fauna) and plants (flora).
One of their most famous designs was a jumper with a koala on it. Diana, Princess of Wales, wore this jumper to a polo match in 1982, making it famous worldwide. The beautiful native waratah flower was another common design in Kee's work. Her style was so unique that the famous designer Karl Lagerfeld used some of her designs in his first collection for the fashion brand Chanel.
Kee and Jackson's shop, Flamingo Park, was located in Sydney's historic The Strand Arcade. It was a popular spot for fashion lovers until it closed in 1995.
Awards and Later Work
Jenny Kee has continued to be an important figure in Australian fashion.
- 2006: She wrote a book about her life called A Big Life.
- 2012: She launched her first solo fashion show in over 30 years at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.
- 2013: She received the Australian Fashion Laureate, a top award in the Australian fashion industry.
- 2015: She worked with Woolmark to create a new collection inspired by her classic designs, including the koala jumper.
- 2018: She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her service to fashion.
- 2019: The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney held a major exhibition celebrating the work of both Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson.
Personal Life
In 1977, Jenny Kee married Australian artist Michael Ramsden, and they had a daughter named Grace. They later divorced.
In 1977, she and her daughter Grace were survivors of the Granville rail disaster, a serious train accident in Sydney. This event had a big impact on her life. In the 1980s, she became interested in Tibetan Buddhism. She has said that a Tibetan spiritual book called the Bardo Thodol is very important to her.
