Studibaker Hawk: The party is not over for these 80s dresses

The US had the padded shoulders of Lynda Evans in the TV series Dynasty, the UK had Princess Diana’s wedding gown but in Australia, the ruffled dresses and ra-ra skirts of Studibaker Hawk best captured the aesthetic excess of the eighties.

Expanding their collection of clothing from the decade of decadence beyond the vibrant prints of celebrated designers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, the Powerhouse in Sydney has acquired 22 garments from Studibaker Hawk’s co-founders Janelle and David Miles, along with illustrations, silkscreens and posters.

“The eighties were an incredible time to be designing,” says David. “Kings Cross was on fire and Oxford Street was alive. We just rode the wave.”

They also designed waves of fabric, which cascaded in wired ripples at the bottom of boned bodices, covered in a riot of colour and often embellished with glitter and puff paint, alongside co-founder Wendy Arnold.

Launching at Paddington Markets in 1982, winning a Fashion Industry Award in 1985 and securing accounts with David Jones, Myer and Grace Bros. by the end of the decade, they were the quintessential eighties’ success story.

“But we made no money,” David says. “That came in the nineties. The era of outrageousness was over. We saw it coming but the scrap heap of labels that didn’t is significant.”

“It was the coming of Giorgio Armani and prints were over,” says Janelle. “We made a collection of black dresses and that took off. That’s when we really became a national fashion business.”

“We became serious business people,” David says. “It was a lot less fun.”

For Powerhouse curator Glynis Jones the Studibaker Hawk archive is a rustling snapshot of eighties Australia, where the party spirit of the America’s Cup and the Bicentenary, or even the local disco, required a dress as effervescent as spumante.