Linda Jackson

For more than 40 years of practice, Linda Jackson played a fundamental role in the development of a distinctly Australian approach to fashion design. Working as an artist outside the conventional fashion marketplace, she devised unique forms of clothing that evolved beyond the sphere of seasonal trends; defying the limits of Western fashion by drawing on an eclectic mix of influences from India, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Linda was born in Beaumaris, Melbourne in 1950. She studied dressmaking design at the Emily McPherson College in Melbourne, now part of RMIT, but left to work in a bridal salon. She then studied photography for one year before heading overseas in 1966 to Europe via Asia and the Pacific. During her years overseas she was able to learn textile traditions from Papua New Guinea to Paris.

On her return, she met Jenny Kee and began to sell dresses and prints inspired by local flora such as Sturt’s desert pea, waratahs and banksias, through Kee’s Flamingo Park boutique in Sydney. During this time she also collaborated with artists Bruce Goold, Deborah Leser and David McDiarmid to paint and batik motifs of local flora onto her silk taffeta, organza and chiffon gowns.

Her partnership with Kee continued until 1981, when Jackson started two new labels, Bush Couture and Bush Kids. In 1982 she began a partnership with Aboriginal women on Utopia Station in the Northern Territory to create clothes decorated with batik patterns inspired by local colours, plants and animals.

After closing Bush Couture in 1991, Jackson began to focus on interior and accessories design projects. Highlights have included a limited edition silk scarf design for the Australia Day Council in 1992 ad producing a rug for the Australian Embassy in Paris. She is also interested in industrial and product design, painting and writing.

Linda Jackson has been recognised in several survey exhibitions and publications relating to Australian Fashion and textiles, including a solo show at NGV Australia in 2012. She continues to collaborate with leading fashion and textile designers including Romance was Born.

Hirst’s furniture is recognised in a number of collections in Australia today.