The Strand Yearbook is a series dedicated to the iconic Australian designers and artisans who have resided within the hallowed halls of The Strand Arcade over the years. For our first instalment, we look back on the kaleidoscopic world of Jenny Kee’s Flamingo Park — how it started, what it evolved into, and where Kee is now.

Few designers have an aesthetic as distinct as that of Jenny Kee’s. Splashes of vibrant colour, flora and fauna plucked straight from the Australian landscape, quirky shapes and incongruent patterns were her trademarks. Pick up any piece of clothing with a similar look made by an Australian label and you can almost guarantee Kee’s kaleidoscopic designs were on their moodboard.

Born to a Chinese father and English-Italian mother, Kee recalls fashion and style being inherent. “That sense of perfection and style was just bred into me,” Kee told journalist Emma Do in a 2021 interview. Inspired by the surf culture of Bondi, where she grew up, and the rugged and diverse Australian landscape, Kee developed a particular brand of kitsch Australiana that, in the late 1970s and ’80s, resonated spectacularly.

Having worked at a vintage boutique in London at a time where counterculture was thriving and individuality was reaching fever pitch, Kee returned to Australia in 1972 to open her own store. Just before leaving the UK, Kee crossed paths with Linda Jackson, a young designer whose pieces adhered to a similar aesthetic to Kee’s — carefully cut, impeccably made and unmistakably Australian. They formed a friendship which developed into a partnership when Jackson returned to Australia and began making clothes for Kee’s store, Flamingo Park.

It was rather synergistic for Kee to open her first and only dress boutique in The Strand Arcade back in the ’70s. A hub of creativity and rich history, The Strand Arcade was, and continues to be, an incubator for design talent. Named after one of her husband’s paintings, Flamingo Park was a frock boutique which sold pieces conceived and crafted by Kee, Jackson and Jan Ayres, a friend who did most of the hand knitting. The store was painted a vibrant pink with turquoise carpet, a sign in the window inviting shoppers to “Step into Paradise.” It was singular in its approach to fashion, especially in Australia, and celebrated the diversity of the landscape and communities it took inspiration from.

Flamingo Park was open in The Strand Arcade from 1973 to 1992, hosting a yearly fashion parade known as Flamingo Follies where the pair would showcase their designs. Following the store’s closure, Kee and Jackson continued to design, turning their attention to textile production. Their opal print fabric was adopted by Karl Lagerfeld, who utilised it in his first ever collection for Chanel, while another of Kee’s prints titled ‘Mali Oz’ has also been used by the French house. Kee and Jackson have left, and continue to leave, indelible marks on Australia’s fashion landscape, and though we mightn’t be able to experience the magic of Flamingo Park today, crossing the threshold of The Strand Arcade really is like stepping into paradise anyway.