Jackson, Linda (1950 - )

Jackson synthesises couture glamour, nationalist imagery, environmental awareness and Australian inspired design in fashion and textiles.

Career Highlights

From an early age Jackson was fascinated with making garments. She made dolls clothes and then clothes for herself and fellow students at Mentone Girls High School, Melbourne. She subsequently studied fashion design at Emily McPherson College, Melbourne and worked in a bridal salon above the Sportsgirl store in Collins Street. Passing through Sportsgirl daily sensitised her to the demands of the retail world. She learned to cut on the cross from 1930s ballgowns and to tailor from 1940s suits that she discovered in Op Shops. Jackson also made children's clothes and studied photography with film maker Paul Cox.

Strong influences on Jackson's persona and work in the late 1960s were Peter Tully and Clarence Chai. Fran Moore became her partner and an important influence on her photography in 1969. At the end of the 1960s Moore, Jackson and Peter Tully travelled together to New Guinea and Asia and eventually found their way to Europe via Istanbul. In Paris Jackson went knocking on the doors of her favourite couturiers. She worked with Mia and Vicky who designed for Elizabeth Taylor and had a small boutique.

On her return to Australia in the early 1970s Jackson met Jenny Kee and they opened Flamingo Park in 1973. When Jackson returned to Europe with Kee to show their flower series in 1977, it was applauded by influential fashion critics Anna Piaggi and Diana Vreeland. Their partnership continued until 1981 when Jackson opened her own studio, Bush Couture. Jackson and Kee were awarded the Innovators Award at the 1977 Lyrebird Awards for Australian Fashion.

Jackson travelled into the Australian outback and worked with indigenous artists in1982. She travelled to Kenya and East Africa, again working with native artists, in 1988. There she studied printing and traditional beading. She returned to Australia and resumed work with Aboriginal communities. Her work was amongst that of many Australian art and fashion practitioners in the survey exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Australian Fashion: the Contemporary Art.

The book Linda Jackson: the Art of Fashion in 1987 surveyed Jackson's career to date and also provided an insight into the philosophy underpinning her design work. June McCallum Editor in Chief Vogue Australia wrote the foreword, Jackson herself detailed her inspirations and working ideas and the photographs were by Fran Moore and Jackson.

"For me it's the Australian bush landscape - the intense blue of the sky, the rich reds of the earth, the greens and yellows of the scrubby desert, the bold flashing colours of our national stone, the opal, the beautiful pure greys, whote and silver-green of the gum tree, the patterns and ideas in the beauty of the wildflowers that adorn this country. This is the source that inspires my use of colour in clothes

Working as an artist in the field of fashion has enabled me to be freely creative and inventive, incorporating many of the arts that I love." Linda Jackson: the Art of Fashion pp 24-25

After the closure of Bush Couture, Linda Jackson still worked as a designer, undertaking many high profiled stand-alone commissions. These include ten silk scarf designs commissioned by Oroton in 1989, a silk scarf for the Australia Day Council in 1992 and many briefs for textiles, furnishings and interiors in Australia. She has provided interiors for a number of major Australian resorts, including the Daintree Eco Lodge, 1994, and the Port Douglas Beach Resort, 1999, as well as a rug for the Australian Embassy in Paris, 1988, and textiles for the Darling Harbour urban redevelopment project in Sydney, 1988.

An important aspect of Jackson's design practice has been her advocacy of the Australian opal, an interest that has spanned many years of her career. She has collaborated with opal miners, cutters and jewelers to extend and revitalize the use of Australian opal and created opal-inspired textiles. In 2000 Linda was a celebrity guest at the Lightning Ridge Federation's Opal Jewellery Design Awards and Exhibition.

Another area in which Jackson's work has been highlighted is in music and performance. From the 1980s onwards she has designed costumes for the professional theatre including dance pieces and classical mythology. Her designs were worn by popular and rock performers both Australian and international - as well as television presenters.

Online Resources

• 'Tokyo Vogue' in RealTime, Open City, Open City Inc., Sydney South, 1999. [ Details ]