She designed jumpers worn by Princess Diana and Olivia Newton-John, then lost everything
Eighties knitwear designer Liz Newman walks into a gallery space hung with the quirky, colourful jumpers made from patterns she created decades ago - she thought these designs were lost forever.
Liz Newman, an 80s knitwear designer, walked into a gallery filled with her iconic jumpers. She recalled how her label became globally renowned, with stars like Princess Diana, Olivia Newton-John, and ice-skating duo Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean sporting her creations. Her success peaked when Jacki MacDonald wore her designs on Hey Hey it’s Saturday, causing the Channel Nine switchboard to jam with requests for similar jumpers.
At her peak, she supplied 150 US stores and ran multiple boutiques and a store in Adelaide. However, her empire crumbled due to the SA Bank's collapse in the mid-1990s. Newman faced a devastating period, including a brain tumour diagnosis and a 14-month rehabilitation journey. After recovering, she decided to leave an unhappy relationship and lived on a disability pension.
Her vintage jumpers, now valuable, were recently discovered by vintage clothing collector Amanda Blair. Blair, inspired by a social media post featuring one of Newman's jumpers, tracked down the patterns stored by Newman's former business partners in Birdsville. The patterns were recreated for an exhibition, giving Newman a renewed sense of purpose.
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