A Colourful Mismatch
Life is about using the whole box of crayons. For Dee Goldberg, she uses them, she recycles them and then she turns them into wearable art.
Meet Dee — a passionate, kind, creative and unique woman who has an eclectic passion for fashion.
“People think I’m doing dress-ups. They are not costumes. This is my art. My wearable art. My clothes. My style.” — Dee Goldberg
Dee grew up in a conservative family in Worcester, South Africa. She was the eldest of three children. Her two younger sisters modelled and Dee’s mother used to say to her as a child — “You’re the one with the personality!”
At age 12, Dee was sent off to a co-ed boarding school where she says she blossomed. At 26 years old and happily married to Howard ‘Goldie’ Goldberg, the couple immigrated to Sydney, Australia during the apartheid era.
So when did Dee’s ‘passion for fashion’ begin? Well, Dee remembers a specific moment in 1993 on a business trip to America where she accompanied Howard.
“One day in LA, Goldie says to me, ‘Why don’t you buy yourself a little hat?’ He rues the day he ever said that!”
Dee always wore quirky things, but the hat was the catalyst for everything. In 1996, in the lead up to the Sydney Olympics, Howard and the company he was working for were creating the Olympic volunteer uniforms. He had been collecting ties for four years when Dee had a great idea…
“It was two weeks until the Olympics and Goldie had whooping cough. I went into his room and asked him if I could use the ties for an outfit. I mistook his coughing attack for a nod of the head. He later asked me where the ties were and I said I had made them into a jacket!”
As the Olympics continued, Dee says,
“It was like the creativity unfurled in me like a projectile rainbow…the colours went berserk…I dyed everything with colour”.
In 2001, Dee was out and about when she noticed an advert for a new creative place opening up in Surrey Hills. That’s where she met fashion designer and now great friend, Jason Chetcuti. After Jason offered Dee a days work a week, they started collaborating on Dee’s clothes.
“Jason thought I had the raw eye. I was learning from the master. I didn’t and still don’t sew but he taught me so much. I’ve known him for 15 years.”
Dee could write a book about the influences on her and her style. From well known icons like Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac; or from Disney characters to airplanes to garage sales, Dee can find inspiration anywhere.
She credits ‘street people’ as one of the most important influences on her style. When Dee was working at Culla Change in Surrey Hills, there were a lot of housing commission and street people near by.
“Issey Miyake was influenced by street people and street fashion and so am I. They have a unique sense of style because of what they do with what they can find.”
Dee also loves the Indigenous culture and Indigenous people.
Another of Dee’s favourite pieces includes her Chanel outfit, which took 5 years to make. The outfit, which is now a ball gown, started off as an under wire and a vintage petticoat.
“It took years to collect the Chanel bits and pieces…I’m not interested in designer clothes. The Chanel outfit is ‘taking the piss’ out of designer labels and Chanel.”
Dee loves her outfit made out of 60 gloves — yes, 60 gloves; her music inspired outfits and her pennant flags outfit, all of which holds a lot of sentimental value.
“When I came to Australia, I had come from an interesting childhood in South Africa, and I started making an outfit out of flags. I had flags from NSW, sports flags and vintage flags and I put them all on a jacket. However, when my father died, I was sitting at the funeral and I felt a need to weave in South African flags. It was a wonderful way to gain closure and make peace with my past.”
Dee’s outfits are no accident. Time, energy and money go into each idea. Every outfit has a theme or a meaning behind it. But most importantly, nothing is off-limits. Actually, that’s not entirely true. Make-up and heels are a no-no.
It’s all about fashion before function for Dee Goldberg.
“I use gum nuts, beads, tassels, buttons, stones…and whilst most people go to Camberwell Market to pick up clothes, I’ll go to pick up a measuring tape for my measuring tape outfit!”
In July 2013, Dee moved to Melbourne to be closer to her commuting husband and daughter, Belle. She had a few major concerns.
“I was worried about how the people in Melbourne wear black all the time and how I was going to cope; how they would accept me and my style, and most importantly, who was going to sew for me.”
After moving to Caulfield to be closer to her extended family, Dee started to develop relationships and discover wonderful places, like Coburg, Preston and Fitzroy, where she could once again create and express herself. Dee began working at the Chapel Street Bazaar and in her spare time, she started volunteering with senior citizens at the National Council for Jewish Women.
On a Saturday morning in November last year, Dee went from the lady who wore colourful clothes in Caulfield to an Instagram sensation over night.
After creating a headband made out of Barbie doll boots with friend and designer Harriet Doran, Dee decided to upload it as a picture to her newly formed Instagram account.
“I phoned up Belle midday and said there’s something wrong with my Instagram. She said mum, ‘You’ve gone viral!’”
Dee went from a few Instagram followers to a few thousand within a couple of days after Ari Seth Cohen, an international street style guru, reposted Dee’s picture on his Instagram account to his 120k followers.
As her profile continued to rise on social media, singer Miley Cyrus followed Dee on Instagram, and BuzzFeed ran an article detailing the ’15 Amazing Senior Style Instagrammers You Should Follow Right Now’, in which Dee was featured.
Although this led to wonderful opportunities like Ari Seth Cohen asking Dee to come to New York so he could photograph her, Dee wasn’t interested.
“This is a hobby for me. I can’t let it control me. I want to control it…I can’t take this too seriously because it’s quite narcissistic at times. My clothes don’t define me. It’s not me — it’s a part of me. I have to be careful it doesn’t take over my life because it did at one time.”
Many people would be surprised to know that Dee is still very conservative. Dee is the complete paradox of a shy person with a sensitive soul, who expresses herself through her wearable art.
“I wear my clothes because my skin is so thin. I’m very sensitive. I’ve been insecure about my looks from my childhood… But I’m not sensitive about my clothes. That’s my expression.”
Another thing Dee isn’t sensitive about is the looks and comments she gets from strangers in the street.
“When you’re creative like this — not everyone is going to like it. You have to have a sense of humour… It’s a great icebreaker and a great way to disarm people.”
And Dee loves to engage. She describes herself as a humanist who will have a conversation with anybody.
However, there are times when Dee’s creativity gets the better of her.
“I can’t be creative at night…it tires me. It’s all in my mind and sometimes I have too many ideas. Sometimes I have to slow myself down because it feels like a treasure trove is about to explode in my head.”
Although Dee gets a lot of joy out her unique style, there is one thing that concerns her.
“My biggest banner for myself is when people say, ‘I’m so boring next to you’. It upsets me. I don’t want people to think that. We all contribute to the tapestry of our rich lives in a different way…Everybody is interesting. I don’t find people boring.”
And that ladies and gentlemen is Dee Goldberg. Sensitive, colourful, creative and extraordinarily different.
Who ever said 60-year-olds were too old to play with crayons.
