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🇦🇺 Australia /Culture & Society

Designer Liz Newman's lost knitwear designs revived in surprise exhibition

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • Eighties knitwear designer Liz Newman has had her lost designs revived in a surprise exhibition.
  • Newman's globally renowned label, famous for its Australiana themes, supplied stars like Princess Diana and Olivia Newton-John in the 1980s.
  • The label collapsed in the mid-1990s due to financial difficulties, and Newman later battled a brain tumor.

Liz Newman, a knitwear designer whose vibrant jumpers were once worn by Princess Diana and Olivia Newton-John, is experiencing a remarkable revival of her work. Decades after her globally renowned label collapsed, dozens of her distinctive, colorful jumpers featuring Australiana themes are on display at the "Knitwear: Back to the Future" exhibition at the South Australian Living Artists Festival.

I'm absolutely amazed, a bit overwhelmed, and just awe-struck.

— Liz NewmanLooking around at dozens of newly knitted jumpers sporting the Australiana themes she developed in her early 20s, and some well-kept originals.

Newman, who started her label in her early 20s, achieved significant success in the mid-80s. Her designs gained widespread popularity when a local TV personality began wearing them, causing the channel's switchboard to jam with inquiries. From a small Adelaide boutique, her creations reached international stars, including ice skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, singer Olivia Newton-John, and even Princess Diana.

Every time Jacki wore one of the designs on Hey Hey, the Channel Nine switchboard would jam with people wanting to know where they could get the knitwear.

— Liz NewmanDescribing the surge in demand for her knitwear when a local TV personality wore her designs.

The designer ventured into the US market as the Australian film "Crocodile Dundee" gained international fame. Her "Australian pizza with the lot" jumper, adorned with iconic Aussie imagery, was particularly popular. At the peak of her success, Newman supplied 150 stores in the US, operated boutiques in Sydney and Melbourne, and employed over 500 hand knitters across Australia.

Australiana was very, very popular and Americans couldn’t seem to get enough of anything Aussie.

— Liz NewmanExplaining the popularity of her designs in the US market.

However, her thriving business met a sudden end in the mid-1990s. A combination of unfortunate events, including the collapse of the SA Bank, led to the demise of her label. Newman described this period as one of the worst of her life. Further hardship followed in 2011 when she was diagnosed with a large brain tumor, which doctors described as a ticking time bomb due to its size and the wear and tear it had sustained.

It was a huge part of my life and an amazing time of my life, and then it all ended very quickly.

— Liz NewmanReflecting on the rapid rise and fall of her knitwear label.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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