Gail Elliott, fashion designer

Gail Elliott on her segue from model to director of the Little Joe label

Gail Elliott on her segue from model to director of the Little Joe label

Born in London, Gail Elliott picked the lucky card from her ethnic deck of Italian, Scottish and Anglo-Indian. Her exotic looks and willowy figure saw her leaving home at 17 to model in Japan and moving two years later to New York. On New Year’s Eve at a Sydney nightclub 13 years ago, friends Helena Christensen and Michael Hutchence introduced the holidaying model to her “big love”, Joe Coffey, who is now her husband and business partner in Little Joe by Gail Elliott.

Wanting “beautiful things for her beautiful life”, Elliott started the label five years ago in New York with a range of six slip dresses in six colours. The designer/director garnered immediate support from her celebrity friends, notably Christensen, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Watts. But things really took off in 2005, with the opening of her first Sydney store, in Woollahra. Now there are seven stores in Australia (with another opening on the Gold Coast this November) plus a contract for a concept store within Myer, Sydney.

“It started from the lingerie-inspired look and the fact that I used to travel often. And to travel in luxury and comfort is very important to me,” Elliott explains. “I liked vintage slips but the cuts were always a little bit too short or the fabric wasn’t comfortable – there was always something I wanted to change. So I started making my own, and from slips it turned into camisoles and evolved into actual clothing.”

Her stores also stock Elliott’s favourite brands of jeans, T-shirts and casual jackets. And this month sees the launch of the Little Joe Essentials range, “which will be sleepwear, and a cashmere line as well”.