The name Liz Davenport OAM is synonymous with fine women’s fashion, both here and nationally. Her designs and wonderful sense of colour struck a chord in the 1980s and beyond.
Liz recently returned to speak to an audience at the Nedlands premises where it all began – 109 Stirling Highway, now the Royal Historical Society’s new address – from where she ran her business for three decades from 1984. Her fashion gained fame in WA, nationally and in Bond Street, London where she had a boutique.
WA born Liz, who now lives in Queensland for family reasons, says she loved sewing from an early age.
“As a child I learned to sew,” she tells Have a Go News. “I loved embroidery and sewing at primary school because in those days we had sewing classes. And then I went to boarding school and learned dressmaking, so by the age of 12 I could make my own dresses.
“It was an artform, I was totally and utterly besotted with sewing. I made dolls’ clothes, my clothes and my sisters’ clothes. I just loved sewing. I learned to sew on a treadle machine when I was only six.
“I loved making my clothes right through high school. Then I went to teachers college and trained as a primary school teacher and taught in Geraldton for eight years before I made a career change and decided to become a designer.”
Liz first became a fashion agent, moving to Perth after marrying husband Terry.
“I had a fashion agency on Murray Street and represented Sydney and Melbourne manufacturers with their collections. It was the era of the flared grey flannel pant, the maxi skirt and platform heels.
“I was representing other people but, in those days, the things customers in Perth wanted from Sydney and Melbourne were sold out because Perth was a long way away and communication was difficult.
“So, I decided if people want a long black maxi skirt it would be manufactured in Perth. My first manufacturing job was for a local business in Victoria Park which gave me a big order for 50 grey flannel pants.”
Liz was on her way to bigger things with big orders coming from local company Irene Whyte, who wanted 1000 long black skirts at a time.
“We hardly had enough time to manufacture them and, because they were crimplene, there was no need for ironing. I would deliver the skirts on a Friday and they would be sold out by Monday.
“It was an absolutely wonderful era because Perth’s isolation meant we had a much bigger market for local manufacturing. I had started my own manufacturing brand and that’s where I began.
“Very quickly I knew I had to expand, I understood wholesale because I had done this for other people, so I found an agent in Adelaide and then in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. By then I had created a collection, I would do a summer range and a winter range and travel to each city. The wholesaler would make appointments with customers and I would help sell.”
Liz says life was busy with a husband and three children.
“But I had a remarkable husband because we worked very well as a team and he encouraged me to run my own business.”
The height of Liz’s career came during the America’s Cup when she launched the Spinnaker Collection.
“A documentary producer visited my premises and asked me to design a spinnaker garment, I made a spinnaker dress and then the spinnaker collection which I still have today.
“I have the Butterfly Collection that I did for the WA Museum and the Forest Collection.”
The collections are all housed in a special climate-controlled archive along with design books, fabric swatches, media stories and awards Liz has been given down the years.
“I’ve kept everything in that building. I have taught myself to be a very good artist and I have a Day of Colour, where people join me in my art studio in the forest at Currumbin Valley for a day of art, with forest therapy, journaling, painting and viewing my archive.”
Liz aims to find a permanent home for her archive and plans to approach the WA Government with an idea to embrace King Street in the city with its heritage-listed buildings as an art and design precinct with the Davenport collection housed there.
Never one to be idle, her busy life involves dividing her time between family and friends in Perth and Queensland. She is also a long-term campaigner for the conservation of Australian old-growth forest.
Her medal of the Order of Australia came for service to the fashion industry and to the community.
Her book, Liz: A Life of Colour, was released in 2012.
She says: “I’ve written a book about body dynamics for the older women and the choice of colour, how to look 10 years younger and one size smaller.”
