Beauty has a padded role of Lynda Evans in the TV series age, Great Britain has Princess Diana’s wedding dress but in Australia, Studibaker Hawk’s ruffled and ragged skirts best showcased the eighties aesthetic.
Expand their clothing collection from decadent decade beyond vibrant prints by famous designers Jenny Kee and Linda JacksonWOMENPowerhouse in Sydney purchased 22 garments from Studibaker Hawk co-founders Janelle and David Miles, along with illustrations, silkscreen prints and posters.
Studibaker Hawk co-founders, David and Janelle Miles, with works from their archive donated to the Powerhouse in Sydney.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“The eighties were a great time for design,” says David. “Kings Cross is on fire and Oxford Street is alive. We just ride the waves.”
They also designed waves of fabric, lined up in ribbed rippling waves at the bottom of bony bodices, covered in a riot of color and often embellished with glitter and puffy paint. , along with co-founder Wendy Arnold.
Launched at Paddington Markets in 1982, won a Fashion Industry Award in 1985 and secured accounts with David Jones, Myer and Grace Bros. At the end of the decade, they were the success stories of the eighties.
“But we didn’t make any money,” David said. “That came in the nineties. The era of excess is over. We’ve seen that happen, but the label scraps are insignificant.”
“It was the arrival of Giorgio Armani and the prints were out,” said Janelle. “We created a collection of black dresses and it worked. That’s when we really became a national fashion business.”
“We became serious business people,” says David. “It’s a lot less fun.”
For Powerhouse curator Glynis Jones, the Studibaker Hawk archive is a snapshot of eighties Australia, where the party spirit of America’s Cup and Bicentenary, or even the local disco, demands a dress that bubbled like a sponge.
