Step Into Paradise - exhibition

I feel very fortunate this week to have visited the "Step into Paradise" exhibition at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, Museum of Applied Arts and Science... it was enthralling, amazing, and inspiring.

From the museum website.... Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson: Step into Paradise is the first in-depth survey that captures the dynamic energy of Linda and Jenny’s 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.

Honoured as Officers in the Order of Australia for their contributions to Australia’s fashion industry, Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson transformed the nation’s fashion and cultural heritage with their pioneering style inspired by Australia’s cultural and natural landscape, melded with their global influences.

The exhibition begins with their creative partnership in the 1970s at the Flamingo Park Frock Salon at Sydney’s Strand arcade and the sensational Flamingo Follies fashion parades, branching into their distinctive individual careers through to recent years including Jenny’s costume designs for the Sydney Olympic Games and their collaborations with Australian designers Romance Was Born.

Over 150 garments, textiles, photographs and artworks, many unseen, from the Museum’s own extensive collection are brought together with the designers’ personal archives.....

What was equally impressive to me was the curation of this colourful and diverse exhibition - this exhibition was so beautifully and cleverly displayed from the artefacts and special garments on view at the beginning of the exhibition lit in the darkness behind glass to the explosion of colour in the reproduction of Flamingo Park, the iconic store in the Strand Arcade. These rooms and the Australian themed rooms were brilliantly staged.

A truly memorable experience! If you haven't seen this exhibition, it's a must - hurry, closing next week!

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