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March 26, 2026 \u2014 11:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Fashion designers and artists Jenny Kee, 79, and Linda Jackson, 75, have been close friends and collaborators for more than 50 years. Together, they introduced Australian fashion to the world.<\/p>\n Jenny: I was 26 when I met Linda; she was 23. It was a magical moment. I\u2019d just come back from London, where people were very cool and dressing up like movie stars; Sydney felt very brash. Linda, who had a magical face and a mass of beautiful, golden curls, was decked out in 1950s-style clothing she\u2019d made. I thought, \u201cThis is someone I can relate to!\u201d \u2013 and she felt the same. The attraction was instant.<\/p>\n We\u2019re both artists, but very different. Linda\u2019s cool; I run hot. You don\u2019t have arguments with Linda: the temperature just drops. She has this quiet confidence that commands respect. It can drive you mad if you\u2019re in the mood for a bit of a scream.<\/p>\n Our first fashion show was in 1974 at Hingara, a yum cha restaurant in Sydney\u2019s Chinatown. It\u2019s always had this special, retro feel. After dinner, we whipped away the cloths and the tables became the runway. Everyone was looking up at these goddesses as they walked down the tables, swaying to reggae.<\/p>\n When my daughter, Grace, was born in 1975 [Jenny was married to artist Michael Ramsden], she fitted right in. Linda would create baby outfits for her and the three of us would go out wearing the same thing. I can be very energetic, like a child \u2013 I have ADHD, which we didn\u2019t have a name for back then \u2013 that could hype Grace up, whereas Linda was always so calm and focused with her.<\/p>\n In early 1977, Linda had a nervous breakdown; she took some time off and went to a rest home in east Sydney. They wanted to do electric shock therapy, but Fran, her partner then, wouldn\u2019t let them.<\/p>\n Grace and I would try to visit her every Tuesday. On January 18, 1977, the train we were on derailed and ran into a road bridge, which collapsed on top of us [the Granville Rail Disaster, in which 83 people died and 213 were injured, remains Australia\u2019s deadliest rail accident]. We were supposed to have been travelling in the third carriage, but were running late and ended up in the first. Most people in the third carriage died that day. It was horrific. Grace emerged with a small scratch, but I sustained a lifelong back injury.<\/p>\n Afterwards, we both immersed ourselves in alternative medicine; we went to the same doctor every week for acupuncture and became quite spiritual. I was drawing a lot, perhaps recognising what I would\u2019ve missed out on if I\u2019d died. Linda and I would go on bushwalks, too; it was the only thing that calmed me down.<\/p>\n Linda has always been really sure of herself professionally, which is a quality I admire: I\u2019ve always been plagued by insecurity. We did a collection together at Sydney\u2019s Powerhouse Museum in 2019 and, at one point, I looked at my work and thought it was all rather terrible. I remember Linda looking at me in horror. She said simply, \u201cStop it!\u201d She actually got quite sharp with me.<\/p>\n Even though we\u2019re both in the National Gallery [of Australia], we\u2019ve never really thought of ourselves as \u201cwomen artists\u201d. We\u2019ve always been just two women working together creatively: Linda\u2019s my twin flame.<\/p>\n Linda: In 1973, I came to Sydney [from Melbourne] to take part in an exhibition at Bonython Gallery [in Paddington]. It seemed as if everyone was telling Jenny and me that we simply had to meet each other. I was feeling really inspired by a recent journey through Asia. When we did meet, I was like, \u201cWow! My Chinese princess!\u201d<\/p>\n Jenny was just about to open [her shop] Flamingo Park in the Strand Arcade, in Sydney. The layout, the vintage artwork, the colours, the music \u2013 it was so different to anything else I\u2019d seen. I immediately started making clothing for it. People always think Flamingo Park was our shop, but it was Jenny\u2019s: I got my own studio on Bondi Road. It was like an outdoor photographic studio for us; Jenny was my muse.<\/p>\n Our life was one big working party. There was no distinction between our personal and professional lives. Everything Jenny and I did \u2013 reading magazines, visiting art galleries, even dinner with friends \u2013 was about feeding our creativity. I\u2019ve always found it interesting that we\u2019re both short-sighted: the minute you take off your glasses, you have this slightly blurry, other way of seeing things. When I was little, I\u2019d tell Mum I could see faces, or pixies, in the bush. As I got older, it became about working out how to deal with these visions: not everyone understands. The first time I told Jenny about them was at Bondi; I pointed to a cliff and said, \u201cThere are faces in that cliff.\u201d She said she could see them, too.<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019re both short-sighted\u2009\u2026 [without] glasses, you have this slightly blurry, \u2018other\u2019 way of seeing things.\u2019<\/p>\n Linda Jackson By 1977, I was exhausted and the visions had become overwhelming. My doctor suspected schizophrenia and sent me to a rest home; if he\u2019d had his way, I would\u2019ve had shock treatment. That\u2019s how they often treated creative women like me back then. Being around Jenny, who didn\u2019t criticise me and encouraged my creativity, helped me heal. I learnt to use my skills without feeling overstimulated.<\/p>\n Jenny and Grace were on their way to visit me when their train derailed. Strangely, I\u2019d been having all these dreams about Jenny where I was wrapping her in rainbows. Fran brought them both to see me a few days later, but I can\u2019t remember much besides being so happy to see them both. I was so off the planet it wasn\u2019t until much later that what had happened to them hit me.<\/p>\n![\"\u201cWe\u2019ve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bc559aa9503978ddc76bcd51ef8da2ac90762ac7.jpeg\")
\u201cWe\u2019ve never really thought of ourselves as \u2018women artists\u2019,\u201d says Kee (left) of her work with Jackson. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been just two women working together creatively.\u201dWolter Peeters<\/p>\n![\"Linda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bcd66ce7dd960812955c6db17628665522b3a728.jpeg\")
Linda Jackson and Jenny Kee wearing Jackson\u2019s Tutti Frutti dress in 1975.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/356b869be1da3b4d1e8010bdba1260134d3b8eec.jpeg\")
The pair after the Flamingo Follies fashion parade in 1976. William Yang<\/p>\n![\"Kee](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cb5392b082fde6cb74a71af5c3c9115e8691bdd7.jpeg\")
Kee in the bush, where the pair spent a lot of time together.Courtesy of Linda Jackson<\/p>\n
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