LEGENDS OF YESTERYEAR STILL VERY MUCH IN FASHION

SOME living history at the 50 Years of Fashion lunch presented by Debbie Miller at Shuck in Main Beach last week.

The star of the show was Helene Walder (below left), 94 years young, who attended with her daughter, Robbie (right).

Helene came here for a holiday in 1956 and the next year she, her husband Bob and the family came up to start a new life. Bob famously went on to start The Penthouse with a restaurant on the fourth floor and over the years expanded it to cover all four floors of the Orchid Avenue building.

Helene, who worked in Abe Saffron’s clubs as a singer, was always a designer and moved into a shop vacated by Ivy Hassard in Surfers Paradise. Soon her unique designs were being snapped up by locals and tourists alike.

“We used to export the clothes to Hawaii, Canada and even Harrods in London stocked the designs,” said Helene. “We would have clients from Sydney and Melbourne who would travel up just to get the latest looks. Surfers was a wonderfully safe village back then and we had so many unique designers and boutiques in the area.”