All the glory of golden years of modelling
Suzy Crittenden, Sophie Mehaffey, Dina Matter, Lise Allwood
It was a joyous walk down memory lane for former Adelaide models of the 1960s-1980s who attended the GoldenYears of Modelling Reunion at the glitzy new Crown Plaza Hotel on Friday night.
And an impressive roll-call of women of a certain age attended and there many emotional scenes as women who had not seen each other for 30 or 40 years, kissed and embraced each other, sharing snippets of their life stories.
Those were the halcyon years of elegance and glamour – of matching hats and gloves and then of skimpy mini-skirts; when Adelaide’s department stores had their own fashion buyers, when interstate manufacturers’ agents would fly into Adelaide to sell their latest ranges and when Adelaide’s newspapers would feature pages of fashion advertisements weekly. Models had an abundance of work on offer and David Jones had parades on most weeks of the year. Back then, wild child model agency owner, Sandy Clarke, bought Pam Ellis’s model agency and, although very young herself, she managed a stable of high profile, professional models.
It was also the era of quests aplenty – and Sandy’s girls won most of the crowns. Many moved from their modelling days into successful careers in fashion, in events management, public relations, leadership training and the media.
“We worked together in the 1960s in the department stores and modelling for the manufacturers from Melbourne,’’ said Deborah Lennon.
And she gathered her mates like mother-hen for a photograph, lining up Kay Newman, Pauline Linehan and Heather Grey.
2 Comments to “All the glory of golden years of modelling”
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By Frank Sebastyan, 26/10/2010 @ 5:00 pm
Hey Nadine, it was a great experience to attend the Sandy Clark reunion gig. The speakers were all entertaining delivering their tributes to Sandy from their era. Most guests dressed to kill. As a newcomer to the modelling industry I was a bit fascinated by it all – George and Harry in attendance too! I was also gobsmacked that I knew almost half the people there simply from my social, business and entertainment life connections in Adelaide. It was great to catch up with old friends. And wot about the new photographer face swanning around at the event Olivier F?
Top show.
By nadine, 27/10/2010 @ 3:34 pm
It was indeed a unique show, but also exuded a wonderful sense of community even though many had not seen each other for many years.