Flair to spare for 60 years

A PASSION AND DRIVE TO BE THE BEST KEPT ELIZABETH SHEPHERD IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY FOR SIX DECADES BUT SHE HAS DECIDED THE TIME HAS COME TO ENJOY HER RETIREMENT,

Elizabeth Shepherd (above) took up the “rag trade” as an Innisfail teen in 1957, the year Around the World in 80 Days won the Academy Award for Best Picture and before the Cairns Amateurs was born. Now, six decades later, retirement from the fashion industry is finally on her radar. “Every year I have to go to Germany and I’m just getting sick of travelling,” she said. “It’s getting to the stage now that ‘it’s time for Liz’.”

An unfortunate change in family circumstances has also helped propel the 74-year-old’s decision to sell her beloved business, Elizabeth Shepherd Fashions.

ELIZABETH Shepherd took up the “rag trade” as an Innisfail teen in 1957, the year Around the World in 80 Days won the Academy Award for Best Picture and before the Cairns Amateurs was born.

Now, six decades later, retirement from the fashion industry is finally on her radar.

“Every year I have to go to Germany and I’m just getting sick of travelling,” she said.

“It’s getting to the stage now that ‘it’s time for Liz’.”

An unfortunate change in family circumstances has also helped propel the 74-year-old’s decision to sell her beloved business, Elizabeth Shepherd Fashions.

“My sister has dementia and she’s only 18 months older than me,” Ms Shepherd said.

“It’s sad and I get annoyed that I can’t get in the car and take off to Innisfail – that’s the reason.

“But if the right person comes and buys the business, and they want someone to work two days a week, I’ll be there with bells on.

“I can’t see myself sitting at home for seven days a week.”

It has been a long journey since she started working at Harris Bros in Innisfail at age 14.

She moved to Sydney for several years but, desperately missing her friends, Ms Shepherd returned to the Far North, where her fashion career flourished.

The former Fashions on the Field master owned and managed boutiques in Innisfail before moving to Cairns in the 1970s to work at David Jones.

For almost 30 years she has been running her own store on Abbott St.

Ms Shepherd said her passion for “good fabrics” had never waned.

“My aunty was a dressmaker and my mother also sewed … I always had a feel for fabrics,” she said.

“I love it when a customer comes in looking so elegant, because she’s taken the pride in herself.”

The Kewarra Beach resident specialises in clothing for “mature-age” locals and tourists, importing top-shelf labels from Germany every year.

Her store has been a constant in the ever-evolving Cairns CBD over recent decades.

She said her honesty and frugality had helped keep the business’ doors open for so many years.

“Everyone tells me that I could sell snow to an Eskimo –

FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS ELIZABETH HAS BEEN RUNNING HER OWN STORE ON ABBOTT ST