Aje’s Adrian Norris: We acted like a married couple for the first decade of our label

Fashion designer Adrian Norris is best known as CEO of Aje. The 38-year-old opens up about his parents’ marriage, why his sister Bree is his customer muse and meeting Kate Moss.

My Hungarian-Jewish paternal grandmother, Zsu Zsi, passed away last year. I was devastated, it was a big loss. She took me as a six-year-old to the Art Gallery of NSW; a regular trip we did together. We would sit in the gallery and I would replicate all the paintings in a tiny sketchbook. I credit her for starting my creative journey.

My mum, Michelle, is the epitome of coastal glamour – she lives in Noosa – and a person you instantly notice when she walks into a room. She has always been an inspiration for colour, proportion and style in all I do.

Mum is the gentlest soul who lost her own mother when she was aged five – her mother left behind five young children. In a way, I feel the loss made her an even better mum to her three kids – I am the middle child and have an older sister, Bree, and younger brother, Tim. Mum has always been very nurturing and caring.

She was Dad’s right-hand woman in business. My dad, Jeremy, worked as a dentist and they built practices together – Mum was his receptionist and practice manager.

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My parents are still happily married; we catch them holding hands at the dinner table. I often think that is how love should be and would love to know what it’s like after 40 years.

My paternal great-aunt, Emma, is 106 and lives alone in Double Bay. The stories she told me about her and my grandmother in London really formed my first fashion inspirations. They believed in dressing up for any and all occasions. They always looked immaculate.

My sister, Bree, is 18 months older than me. We are inseparable. We have always been super close, but the bond blossomed around the time I turned 19 and had just returned from Italy.