Aje’s Adrian Norris: We acted like a married couple for the first decade of our label

Fashion designer Adrian Norris is best known as CEO of Aje. The 38-year-old opens up about his parents’ marriage, why his sister Bree is his customer muse and meeting Kate Moss.

“I was always shocked that Mum didn’t know I was gay.”

My Hungarian-Jewish paternal grandmother, Zsu Zsi, passed away last year. I was devastated, it was a big loss. She took me as a six-year-old to the Art Gallery of NSW; a regular trip we did together. We would sit in the gallery and I would replicate all the paintings in a tiny sketchbook. I credit her for starting my creative journey.

My mum, Michelle, is the epitome of coastal glamour – she lives in Noosa – and a person you instantly notice when she walks into a room. She has always been an inspiration for colour, proportion and style in all I do.

Mum is the gentlest soul who lost her own mother when she was aged five – her mother left behind five young children. In a way, I feel the loss made her an even better mum to her three kids – I am the middle child and have an older sister, Bree, and younger brother, Tim. Mum has always been very nurturing and caring.

She was Dad’s right-hand woman in business. My dad, Jeremy, worked as a dentist and they built practices together – Mum was his receptionist and practice manager.

My parents are still happily married; we catch them holding hands at the dinner table. I often think that is how love should be and would love to know what it’s like after 40 years.

My paternal great-aunt, Emma, is 106 and lives alone in Double Bay. The stories she told me about her and my grandmother in London really formed my first fashion inspirations. They believed in dressing up for any and all occasions. They always looked immaculate.

My sister, Bree, is 18 months older than me. We are inseparable. We have always been super close, but the bond blossomed around the time I turned 19 and had just returned from Italy.

I always use Bree as a customer muse. She is also the first person I ever told I was gay, when I was in my teens. She was completely fine with it. She laughed and we went out to a festival afterwards.

I was always shocked that Mum didn’t know I was gay. I think she might have pulled the wool over her own eyes, in a sense, because I always thought it was quite obvious. She is still my best friend. We talk every few days, and she is the one person who knows everything about me.

I credit Mrs Oliver at Matthew Flinders Anglican College for allowing me into the art room during lunchtime so I could hide from everyone. It was where I would go to paint. She would encourage me to do what I loved and I felt so happy to be there.

Edwina Forest [creative director of Aje] is my work wife. We acted like a married couple for the first decade of our label – until she found her husband. She’s now married with two kids and is still one of the most important women in my life.

When Edwina and I were young designers, we always looked up to Sass & Bide founders Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton. They were such style icons and succeeded in business.

Supermodel Kate Moss was the epitome of every single thing we wanted to be as young designers. She was cool, totally fashionable, beautiful and nonchalant. We both met her in 2011 and were starstruck. She came to our tiny pop-up shop at Splendour in the Grass while her husband at the time, Jamie Hince, was playing with the Kills. She purchased one of our jackets and we got a photo with her.

I would love to get married. I date, but I haven’t found “the one” yet. I’ve had my heart broken a few times but I wouldn’t say I have been unlucky in love. It’s more a case that I have met the right people at the wrong time in my life. But I am positive about the future, so watch this space.

Aje will be showing at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, May 15-19.

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