POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Archive of Australian Model Lynn Sutherland

Object No. 2000/5/1

Lynn Sutherland was one of Australia's first internationally successful models. During the 1970s she achieved great acclaim as one of Australia's best 'natural blonde' exports to the world. The archival collection represents the broad scope of her career from the late 1960s through to the 1990s. Born in 1948, Lynn attended Caringbah High School and lived at Dolan's Bay. She trained to be a model at Pat Woodley's modelling agency and began working as a professional fashion model for TV commercials and fashion magazines in Sydney before travelling to Rome in 1969 on assignment with Australian photographer Laurie Le Guay and then on to London, Paris and then New York in 1970, where she achieved her greatest success working for Dianna Vreeland, fashion editor with American Vogue. Lynn's archival collection includes original fashion prints, models composites, magazine covers and tear sheets, and a comprehensive group of biographical tear sheets showing Lynn's enormous popularity with local and international press. A Thierry Muglar outfit which Lynn Sutherland wore when she was nominated as the Eileen Ford model of the 1970s, and a pair of hand-made leather shoes bought by Lynn Sutherland in Iran and worn during the 'ethnic' fashion boom in the mid-70s, have also been acquired by the Museum. Lynn's archive of Super 8 and 8mm film footage of Australian beach culture in the late 1960s and rare historical film footage of international models working with fashion photographers in exotic locations around the world, adds value to the archive and insight into the model's lifestyle and the modelling profession during those decades. Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator 2008