Collette Dinnigan AO (b. 1965), designer and company director, was born in South Africa and settled in Australia in 1985. After working in the costume department of ABC TV she launched her own label in 1990, concentrating on lingerie. Dinnigan soon moved into ready-to-wear, becoming the first Australian fashion designer to mount a full-scale parade in Paris in 1995. Her delicate, luxurious collections were worn by celebrities and stocked by more than 80 stores worldwide. In 2001 she launched a range of luxury low-cost lingerie for English chain store Marks and Spencer; she did the same for Target stores in Australia in 2008. Dinnigan became the first Australian to feature in television and print advertising campaigns for American Express in 2006. To mark her twentieth year in business in 2010 she launched a diffusion line, Collette by Collette Dinnigan. The mother-of-two announced the closure of her business in late 2013, but continues to design interiors, wallpaper, textiles and ceramics. A retrospective exhibition Collette Dinnigan: Unlaced opened at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum in September 2016.
For Ingvar Kenne's portrait of Dinnigan, he taped together two photographs, reconstructing the image to show his sitter in a state of becoming. Dinnigan's designs have been described as sensual, romantic and mysterious, a mood Kenne has captured in this portrait.
Gift of the artist 2006
© Ingvar Kenne
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