Paula Stafford: Gold Coast bikini designer dead at 102

Paula Stafford, the famous bikini designer who brought the skimpy swimwear to Australia, has died. Those closest to the icon have spoken about her ‘huge’ legacy. READ THE TRIBUTES

City leaders are working to honour Paula Stafford with a permanent memorial following the Gold Coast bikini queen’s death.

One of the city’s last living links to the post-war boom died on Thursday morning, 13 days after reaching the age of 102.

Mrs Stafford revolutionised swimwear when she brought the bikini to Australia in the early 1950s – and claims to have first worn one more than a decade earlier.

Paula Stafford: June 10, 1920 - 23 June, 2022.

Holding back tears on Thursday, granddaughter Anna Byers described Mrs Stafford as having a “tenacious spirit” and an “uncompromising love for the city”.

“She was always quick to offer a warm welcome to all and had a ready smile and mischievous sparkle, just like my eight-year-old daughter Bridget,” Ms Byers said.

“Paula loved the people of the Gold Coast, was an entrepreneur and was a one-woman PR machine. She understood marketing before there were textbooks on the subject.

“She had a huge work ethic. It was unstoppable.”

Paula Stafford was a significant innovator in the creation of the bikini.

Ms Byers said it was “phenomenal” Mrs Stafford had survived her four children, and attributed her long and fruitful life to “keeping a positive attitude and looking after her health” – as well as plenty of fun in the sun.

Ms Byers said it was also “the strong Stafford women gene” that kept her spritely right until the end.

“She had a very short illness at the end with no pain, so we are grateful for that.

“Her positivity in her work buoyed her in all other areas of her life. Her passion for the community was unmatched and she really always believed the Gold Coast was a worthy destination on the world stage.”

Paula Stafford is survived by her grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Ms Byers said a private funeral will be held but a separate memorial will take place on a date to be announced in coming days.

Mayor Tom Tate issued condolences to Mrs Stafford’s family on behalf of the city.

He will write to councillors this week and propose city leaders consider building a permanent memorial.

“It has been a tough year for iconic people passing and Paula Stafford was iconic on the Gold Coast, (popularising) the bikini and (showing) that have-a-go spirit,” he said.

She moved to Queensland after the war, married Beverley Stafford and continued her design work.

In 1946, French designer Louis Reard is credited with inventing the bikini, producing a two-piece outfit called “the Atome”.

Paula Stafford has died at age 102.

Six years later, Mrs Stafford was living on the Gold Coast and running a Surfers Paradise business that hired out windbreaks to tourists.

By then a mother of three she had begun making two-piece swimsuits with tie-sides for herself and her daughters.

She began to manufacture them on a much wider scale.

In 1999, Mrs Stafford said she considered two-piece swimsuits a “perfectly natural’’ state of dress as a teenager.

“I was oblivious to anyone looking at me because I was a tomboy.

“It didn’t even occur to me that people might think they were strange, or daring or anything else.’’

In 1952 she made South Coast, as the Gold Coast was known then, globally famous when Sydney model Ann Ferguson walked down to the beach in one of Mrs Stafford’s creations.

Seeing a scantily clad Ms Ferguson, John Moffatt, the region’s first professional lifeguard, demanded she cover herself and leave the beach immediately.

Fashion designer Paula Stafford in 1982

“It was no big thing,” Mr Moffatt told the Bulletin before his death in 2005.

“I just mentioned to her I thought her cossie was a little too brief and maybe she should cover up a little more.”

Bikini orders went through the roof, bringing fame and fortune to Mrs Stafford and the Gold Coast, and kickstarting the city’s iconic beach image.

A Paula Stafford bikini.

Bikini designer Paula Stafford at home in Burleigh

“The bikini has always been a newsleader,’’ she said in 2009.

Mrs Stafford went on to sell bikinis through her own boutique chain and supplied more than 400 shops.

Former model and Meter Maid Debbie Miller said Mrs Stafford was “100 per cent responsible” for her own career after discovering her in the late 1960s.

Paula Stafford celebrates 60 years of the Bikini in 2003 with Models (l-r) Anna Lere 21, Stephanie Carisson 21, Janine Kechel 24, Sarah McKay 18, and Daniela Diez 29.

“Without her, I just don’t know, I probably would have become a hairdresser,” Ms Miller said yesterday.

“Paula discovered me in 1968 and what a lot of people don’t realise is how instrumental she was in fostering the careers of many models, television presenters and Gold Coast fashion personalities.”

Fashion designer Paula Stafford (R) with bikini-clad model Sally Hill in 1968

Paula Stafford with photographs of models wearing her designs.

Ms Miller, who retained a “lifelong friendship” with Mrs Stafford, said the icon had a “supernatural ability to see what was special in others”.

Former meter maid and golden girl Deborah Miller was a fixture of the Gold Coast fashion scene in the 1960's and 70's. She said Paula ‘discovered’ her. Picture: Supplied.

“She had an eye like no one else and was amazing at spotting what she thought was unique in young models.

“Her influence was enormous and she will be truly missed by people all over the city.”

Ms Miller said “there was no greater champion of the Gold Coast than Paula” and she had travelled the world with her on several campaigns to showcase the best of the city to foreign dignitaries and diplomats.

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