Fashion designer Liz Davenport
Camera IconFashion designer Liz Davenport Credit: Supplied/Marcus Whisson

Popping up in style

Sara FitzpatrickMelville Gazette

The Perth designer, famed for her innovative use of colour, was recently inducted into the prestigious Who’s Who of Australian Fashion Top 100, showcasing the most influential identities from 1962 to 2012 and voted by style laureates including Akira Isogawa and Collette Dinnigan.

‘The list included very high-profile fashion industry icons of the past 50 years and I was proud to be written into that chapter of history with them,’ Davenport said.

Davensport first stepped onto the scene in 1972 as a fashion agent, then graduated to wholesale with her own label in 1975.

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She then went onto to open retail stores in the ’80s and now has boutiques in Applecross and Nedlands as well as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

‘My motto is very practical ” supply the demand,’ she Davenport said.

‘I listen to my clients and design clothes they want to buy. I also enjoy my ‘killer’ work ethic and love my career.’

Davenport has a new project ” the travelling boutique ” keeping her busy.

‘Instead of expensive stores with high overheads, we’re bringing our boutiques to valued clients,’ she said.

‘Sadly we cannot have shops everywhere and frankly, shopping centres have lost their appeal anyway ” they are ageist, unfriendly and do not cater for our needs.

‘The solution ” we bring the store to you!’

Davenport said she was driven by the desire to enrich women’s lives, provide self-esteem and solve people’s problems.

‘To make a person, inadequate about her sense of style, feel uplifted and empowered is a great joy,’ she said.

‘I do this with fabulous colour combinations and very well fitted, quality garments.’

Davenport hopes to publish a magazine recognising extraordinary people and places and offer an alternative to celebrity diets and unwearable clothes.