All the luckies know how much I love birthdays, anyone’s birthday really, a cause for celebration, but my own birthday, well I look forward to that at least 3 weeks out. I think about what I will do, who I will see, how I will feel.
I feel 57. What on earth, 57 is such a weird, nothing number – at least 55 is halfway to 60, but 57 is no man’s land, it feels like time has stopped for a moment, forcing deep reflection and I seem to hear a deep booming voice in my head saying to me – “So what is your next chapter looking like now that you’re 57. Time to make some decisions girl, you are 57, only 13 years to 70……” It feels like I am skipping turning 60, there is too much to do before 70, I don’t have time to worry about 3 years to 60!
They say these days that our kids will have at least 12 careers in their lifetime. Well, I am up to number 15 and my career has had various roles in retail, fashion design, events, sponsorship, brand, marketing, mother, business owner, freelance writer, oil & gas, and government. What a melting pot of industries, of course my favourite will always be a mother but my most rewarding from a creative, respect from peers, and in my absolute element perspective will always be fashion.
I was incredibly lucky to grow up in the Australian fashion industry during the late 80’s. Yes, the fashion was disastrous on reflection, but the effort I went to being blonde, permed, the apricot and lilac eye shadow combination application, the multi coloured bubble skirts (I still have this!), the metres of ruched taffeta, shoulder pads, ballet flats or slouchy suede boots, and the dreadful over-sized accessories – well I embraced it all, often all at once! It was a styleless phase of my life, but gee I looked happy, and I know I had fun! It is possibly why my current look does not go much beyond a white shirt and jeans – it is a type of wardrobe cleanse, still recovering from the 80’s PTWM – post traumatic wardrobe malfunction!
In any case I managed to have quite a successful fashion career, keeping a lid on my 80’s vibe and instead embracing what is now known as American Sportswear. I religiously followed designers such as Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Helmut Lang and Donna Karan, still a favourite today for her simple but exquisite tailoring and use of colour and textile.
Fashion is part of my DNA, my Papa George Goodchild was a buyer for Adelaide based department store John Martins in the 50’s and I followed in his footsteps, also becoming a womenswear buyer for John Martins in the early 90’s. He was so very proud of that, me too. It was an honour to work for them. I loved getting to work early, about 7.30am, and walking through the store, looking at all the merchandise, often before the lights had even been turned on, down the incredibly long hall to the buying office. It was my first real grown-up job, and I loved it all. The power suits, the hosiery, the smart suede shoes, buying ranges from designers such as Jane Lamerton, Perri Cutten, Anthea Crawford, Carla Zampatti, and later Country Road, my first introduction to this brand but not my last as I would end up as Head of Womenswear less than 10 years later – my all-time favourite role, the best of times, working with incredible designers (take a bow Ev), travelling the world, attending and working with the most innovative fabric mills and trend forecasting houses. It was one hell of a ride. So many incredible experiences from factories in Taiwan to salons in Paris and everything in between. The negotiations, I was quite good at that! It was a learned skill. Patience, and a good poker face. I once flew to Calcutta to negotiate a $USD.50 cent reduction on our madras check short program. Target achieved, and we made incredible profits on that one item the following summer.
Getting back to turning 57. It has forced a positive work review that must include a creative element for the next 13 years, a well-executed retirement plan, a health overhaul, the need for 8 hours sleep (thanks Sars for the native sleep tea) a need for daily exercise including stretching, this is key, but mostly I have realised the joy of now having adult children, lively conversations and hearing their plans as they are starting out. What fun!
Of course the luckies – well I have been spoilt rotten with flowers, cards, balloons, objet d’artes, a fancy sweat top for writing, books, perfume, all matters of beauty products from lip masks, to face masks to hair masks – all with impossibly small font descriptions (what is with that!) so I accidentally put the hair mask on my face the other night until it started burning and finally put my glasses onto see my error!! In any case I am excited for the run to 70, it is the new 50 after all – more on that later….
XX Ringo XX