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Names

The Paula Stafford Beachwear Collection

IDs

QM00038

Offline Only

Descriptions

The Paula Stafford Collection consists of approximately forty beachwear outfits which were designed and manufactured on the Gold Coast predominately during the 1960s and 1970s

Paula Stafford is unanimously linked with Queensland beachwear design. Stafford originally trained in dress design at the Melbourne Technical College during the 1930s. In 1942 Stafford and her husband moved to Surfers Paradise where she began to experiment with swimwear design, including her version of the bikini. It was not until 1952 following the reprimand Sydney model Anne Ferguson received from the beach inspector, John Moffat, for wearing a rather brief Stafford bikini that her reputation as a designer and business woman began to flourish. At the peak of her business Stafford was operating two large workrooms which employed up to 65 staff, and was supplying up to 400 shops in Australia. The collection which includes, beach coats, bikinis, dresses, hats, jumpsuits, pants and skirts, reflects the output of these workrooms.

Subjects

1960s and 1970s; Beachwear; Queensland Designers

Fashion; Fashion design

Paula Stafford

Swimwear

Coverage Spatial

Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Coverage Temporal

1960

1979

Related Collections

Dates

2012-05-30 23:43

2011-06-02 17:37