Alannah Hill, Australian fashion designer.
I had never heard of this fashion designer until she came to my favourite Lit Fest. Even then, I chose other authors to see. Now I kind of wish I'd heard her speak.
My Book Group decided we should read her biography so I duly complied, although I unfortunately missed the discussion. So, what did I make of this book?

Well, firstly, I honestly think Alannah Hill is the sort of person who I would meet once and then spend the rest of my life avoiding - she's brash, rude and totally self-centred.
A lot of this is probably a defense mechanism in reaction to her childhood, where she suffered severe neglect and emotional abuse. At the age of twelve she was molested by her own brother and later suffered several instances of rape, again probably because she didn't have much understanding of how to behave and how to avoid such treatment. She decided to hide behind her 'costumes' and excessive make-up. She dressed to shock, rubbish bags were her garment of choice for quite a while and she wore huge flowers in her hair, always.

Eventually she got a break, working in a bow teek (is that really what they're called in Australia?) and was allowed to design her own clothes, which seemed to hit the mark and sold successfully.
She definitely has talent, she gauged the feeling of the masses for elegant, tasteful, feminine clothes and her products flew off the shelves. She worked her way up the ladder through sheer hard work and determination until the bubble burst a few years ago, thanks to one thoughtless, ill-gauged comment, which offended the public, the press and others in the fashion world, in one fell swoop. It was a comment typical of her brash sense of humour, but was not received in that manner. Her world collapsed and she even lost the right to her own brand name, Alannah Hill.

She has almost zero self respect and hides behind her OTT charade. It certainly makes for interesting reading and I Googled Images of her and her fashions to get a clearer picture. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the child that she had been, who became the lost soul of fashion.

Now she has a new image, as an author, but I think her fashion followers would rather like her to design for them again, she really had flair and an eye for what makes women feel good.

An interesting read, baffling and awe-inspiring in equal measure. ( )