Paula Stafford
{{Short description|Australian fashion designer (1920–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2018}}
{{infobox person
| name = Paula Stafford
| image = Paula Stafford.jpg
| caption = Stafford in 1949
| honorific_suffix = OAM
| birth_place = Melbourne, Australia
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2022|06|23|1920|06|10}}
| death_place = Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1920|06|10}}
| occupation = Fashion designer, businesswoman
| known_for = Introducing the bikini to Australia
| spouse = {{marriage|Beverley Ralph Stafford|1943}}
| children = 4
}}
Paula Stafford OAM (10 June 1920 – 23 June 2022) was an Australian fashion designer credited with introducing the bikini to Australia. Graeme Potter, director of Queensland Museum South Bank, called her "Australia's original bikini designer".{{cite news|last1=Stolz|first1=Greg|title=Bikini queen Paula Stafford turns 90|agency=The Courier Mail|publisher=News Corp Australia|date=10 June 2010}}
Early life
Fashion
The bikini is generally credited to Louis Réard in 1946, but two-piece swimming costumes had existed before then. Stafford had been making them for herself since the 1930s, but only gradually turned this into a business. In the 1940s, wartime shortages led to a desire to save fabric, which led to costumes becoming more skimpy. When somebody saw her self-made costume on the beach in Gold Coast and asked to buy one, she began selling them. Her styles became popular in Gold Coast and in Melbourne. She began manufacturing operations with a machinist working in her attic, but later built a factory, and opened a shop, called the Tog Shop, and also sold mail-order. The firm also expanded into leisurewear for men and women. She sold her clothes to stores including British retailers Selfridges and Liberty of London, and in Australia Myers, Georges, Buckleys, and David Jones. She also founded a modelling agency and a hotel.
In a famous incident in 1952, model Ann Ferguson was asked to leave a beach in Surfers Paradise because her outfit was too revealing; she was wearing a Paula Stafford bikini.
In 1993, Paula Stafford was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division for service to the fashion industry.{{Cite web|url=http://thefashionarchives.org/?people_and_places=paula-stafford|title=Paula Stafford {{!}} The Fashion Archives|website=thefashionarchives.org|language=en|access-date=10 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211095644/http://thefashionarchives.org/?people_and_places=paula-stafford|archive-date=11 February 2017|url-status=live}}
Her work is on display at the Gold Coast Historical Society museum in Bundall, Queensland. It was also displayed in an exhibition of swimwear at the Queensland Museum South Bank in 2010. She was awarded Gold Coast City Council's "Legend Award" in 2012.{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/01/20/3412553.htm|title=Gold Coast Legend Award: Paula Stafford|last=Marshall|first=Candice|date=20 January 2012|work=91.7 ABC Gold Coast|access-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023213921/http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/01/20/3412553.htm|archive-date=23 October 2018|url-status=live|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}
Personal life
In 2010, Stafford's autobiography, Bikini: The Paula Stafford story, was published, co-written with Ali McGovern. In 2013, Stafford was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=http://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/|title=Hall of Fame|website=Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame|publisher=State Library of Queensland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023083836/http://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/|archive-date=23 October 2018|url-status=live|access-date=23 October 2018}}{{Cite web|url=http://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/paula-stafford-oam/|title=Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame {{!}} Paula Stafford OAM|website=leaders.slq.qld.gov.au|language=en-US|access-date=10 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223060417/http://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/paula-stafford-oam/|archive-date=23 February 2017|url-status=live}} She turned 100 on 10 June 2020{{Cite web|title=Gold Coast bikini pioneer and business legend Paula Stafford celebrates 100th birthday|url=https://www.pacificlongboarder.com/news/Gold-Coast-bikini-pioneer-and-business-legend-Paula-Stafford-celebrates-100th-birthday/|access-date=6 August 2021|website=www.pacificlongboarder.com|archive-date=6 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806024333/https://www.pacificlongboarder.com/news/Gold-Coast-bikini-pioneer-and-business-legend-Paula-Stafford-celebrates-100th-birthday/|url-status=live}} and died on 23 June 2022, aged 102, in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.{{Cite news |last=Candsale |first=Dominic |last2=Young |first2=Bern |date=23 June 2022 |title=She brought the bikini to Australia and put the Gold Coast on the map. Paula Stafford dies aged 102 |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-23/gold-coast-businesswoman-bikini-designer-paula-stafford-dies/101174424 |access-date=23 June 2022}}
The State Library of Queensland holds Paula Stafford's personal collection, Stafford was an impressive record keeper, with seemingly every new business venture, every new ad campaign, and every new swimsuit documented extensively.{{Cite web |title=Paula Stafford Collections |url=http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/primo-explore/search?query=sub,exact,Stafford,%20Paula&tab=slq&search_scope=SLQ&vid=SLQ&offset=0 |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=State Library of Queensland OneSearch Catalogue}} In 2013 a digital story was created by the State Library of Queensland interviewing Stafford. In the video Stafford discusses dressmaking and the development and success of her business. Paula talks about the bikini and how it launched her Surfers Paradise business; the development of the business; building business around her family; her unique business model; the Gold Coast and tourism; becoming an international brand and drawing international publicity; being a proud Queenslander.{{Cite web |title=Paula Stafford OAM digital stories and oral history : Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 2013 |url=http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/1upgmng/slq_alma21279885200002061 |access-date=1 July 2022 |website=State Library of Queensland OneSearch Catalogue}}
References
External links{{authority control}}
- [http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/fhnkog/slq_alma21148754090002061 M 500 Paula Stafford Papers 1967-1968], State Library of Queensland.
- [http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/fhnkog/slq_alma21148509070002061 OM93-05 Paula Stafford Clippings ca. 1950-1990], State Library of Queensland.
- [http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/fhnkog/slq_alma21148787970002061 6491 Paula Stafford Clippings and Photographs ca. 1940 - 2000], State Library of Queensland.
- [http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/1upgmng/slq_alma21279885200002061 Paula Stafford OAM digital stories and oral history : Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 2013], State Library of Queensland.
- [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/paula-stafford-henry-talbot-and-spike-milligan Paula Stafford, Henry Talbot and Spike Milligan], John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Paula}}
Category:Australian women centenarians
Category:Australian fashion designers
Category:Businesspeople from Melbourne