Summary

Sleeveless multicoloured maxi coat designed and made by Jenny Bannister in 1971 while she was a student at Red Cliffs High School in Northwest Victoria.

The maxi coat is made from wool and fabric offcuts and is an example of Jenny's formative commitment to using scraps of fabric in the production of her unique clothing.

Born and raised in Mildura, Jenny was always sewing her own clothes or buying things from local op shops, mainly because it was too hard to get anything at the time in Red Cliffs. Jenny would often source vintage dresses from the women who travelled into town from the soldier settlements. Jenny was likely influenced by her grandmother, who was a soldier settler's wife and first lived in a humpy on the river bank down past Mildura. As Jenny recalls in a 1982 newspaper article, 'They had no money for clothes so she would cut up worn-out dresses and shirts to make new ones.'

The coat also features stars as a recurring motif, a design Jenny returns to in her Cosmic Collection of the 1980s.

Physical Description

Floor length multicoloured sleeveless coat or vest made of wool. The garment is made of panels with different types of fabrics applied with machine applique in various shapes including stars. Colours include red, purple, green and crimson.

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