Q&A: Gregory Ladner, fashion designer, 72

Fashion designer Gregory Ladner’s advice: have confidence in what you’re wearing — and don’t worry about what others think.

Industry veteran: Gregory Ladner. Picture: Eryca Green

Before you became a pioneering Australian designer, you were a kid growing up in suburban Melbourne who loved fashion. What sparked this passion?

Probably my mother; she was very elegant. I think I got my artistic bent from her. Also, my aunty – she won the “Gown of the Year” contest once and I always thought that was a thrill. I dressed [my stuffed bear] Teddy from the moment I could. I don’t know where the creativity comes from, but people overthink it. I don’t think about it, I just “paint”.

How did you plan to become a major name in fashion with a successful eponymous label?

Everything in my life has sort of fallen into place. It was never planned. It was like an errant teenager, it sort of just got away from us. The Duchess of York used to wear those big bows, and we started making the bows just at the right time. Then the label went from bows to hats, and then jewellery, scarves, bags… And in all the years I never took out one ad in the paper, never advertised, it just happened. I often think if we had taken that step and promoted it, where would it be today… would it be international?

At the height of your career you went to Hong Kong to design for Shanghai Tang – what stands out about that experience?

Just the sheer amount of work! In that period, they’d just sold and the founder, David Tang, had lost control of it. So it was in transition, there was no money for anything and it was in the hands of the French. I just worked so hard designing the childrenswear, menswear, womenswear and homewares. I was meant to travel there as a consultant just for six weeks and then come home for a month – but that never happened. I just worked [from when I got there], six days a week. A friend of mine in Hong Kong was talking to a designer there, and she said the clothes were most fabulous around the time I was there. So that was a thrill.

You owned pieces from Yohji Yamamoto and Saint Laurent before they were known in Australia. What’s something you no longer own but wish you still had?

Not that I’d fit into it, but I had a cashmere jacket that was Giorgio Armani before he was “Giorgio Armani”. It felt so beautiful and looked so beautiful… but the moths ate that.

Are there fashion lessons from the era when you were working that are still relevant today?

I see the award shows, like the Logies, and I reel in horror at some of the dresses… I think I don’t understand fashion anymore. But I suppose a lesson is confidence in what you’re wearing, and not worrying about what other people think. Too many people dress for other people and don’t dress for themselves. You should completely express yourself in clothes but a lot of people don’t, and that’s why people get hooked into fashion labels.

In your recent memoir you dedicate a whole chapter to your husband Mark and your 40-year partnership in business and life. What’s the secret to such an enduring relationship?

Compromise, I think, and trust. We just got back from overseas and travelling with people is difficult, but we just love being together and are happier when it’s just the two of us. He looks after me. I had a bad fall in the shower, hit my head – I’m all right, I had a brain scan and nothing bad happened – but he was in the kitchen and heard the noise and thought “oh god, he’s dead!” But I’m still here. If I hadn’t met Mark, I’d probably still be in a back room sewing wedding dresses. We just fitted together and made our business work; the Gregory Ladner name is still going strong.

A Boy and His Bear by Gregory Ladner (Hardie Grant Books, $35)