Papers of Max and Thelma Afford, 1912-1987
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Item 27 Album 2, UQFL184 |
Thelma was teaching in Adelaide, and involved in Little Theatre productions in her time off. In 1934, she was granted leave from teaching to study in Melbourne, where she worked for designer Pierre Fornari, who owned an exclusive couture salon in Collins Street and also designed costumes for musicals. Thelma later recalled:
As Fornari couldn't draw it was my job to put his ideas and designs down on paper, not always an easy task ... I learnt a great deal from him, both in actual designing and also in the appreciation of a necessary high standard of workmanship in the making of costumes.
While in Melbourne, Thelma was hired to design costumes for Melbourne's Centenary Pageant of Nations. On her return to Adelaide, she resumed teaching for a while, before being 'lent' by the Education Department as official costume designer for the Adelaide Centenary Council. Her success with these celebrations led to her being invited to Sydney in 1937, as costume designer to the Sydney Sesqui-Centenary Council.
The costume pictured at left was designed for the character of a "Free Settler", in the "March to Nationhood" Pageant for the Sydney Sesqui Centenary celebrations. It featured on the front cover of the "Australian Women’s Weekly" 22 January 1938
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