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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Megan Doherty

Canberra fashionista sells off her designer clothes and shoes

Canberra fashionista Sarah Kelly sells off her designer clothes

She could easily lay claim to being Canberra's most fabulous fashionista, someone who always makes an impact, whether it's at the races at Thoroughbred Park or in the front row at New York Fashion Week.

But after growing up in Canberra and raising a family in the national capital, Sarah Kelly is heading north to start a new chapter of her life in Brisbane.

And her clothes aren't going with her. Well, most of them aren't.

Sarah Kelly at her home in Narrbundah with just a few of the designer pieces she is selling off this weekend. Picture by Elesa Kurtz

Sarah has decided to let the public, metaphorically, into her covetable wardrobe and is selling off her designer clothes in a big sale this weekend.

From high end to high street, the sale will include labels from Gucci, Chanel, Versace, Balmain, Kenzo, Prada, and Alexander McQueen to Zara, H&M and ASOS.

And it will all be sold from the little Narrabundah Community Hall on Saturday and Sunday, with the clothes coming out of a storage unit and into the hands of other fashion lovers.

Sarah Kelly loves racewear. Here she is pictured ahead of judging fashions on the field at the Melbourne Cup race meeting at Thoroughbred Park last month. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong

Trying to work out what to do with the designer items has been a little overwhelming.

"The whole idea of selling items online, individually, I thought, 'That's just going to take me years' because I've got so much," Sarah said.

"A few people said, 'I'd love to come and see your clothes' and I thought, 'Oh, well, I should just bite the bullet and get it all out, let everyone know and see if I can get it all through in one fell swoop'.

"It's also given me a good chance to sort through every thing and work out what I'm going to keep in what I'm calling my 'archives'.

"The things I just love so much - probably won't ever be able to fit in again sadly - but hold such dear memories. Just something I've loved and could never get rid of.

"Even as I look at these now, it's a little bit hard to think, 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually going to have to let them go'."

Sarah Kelly in 2020 getting ready for the Black Opal Stakes. Picture by Karleen Minney

Well-known for her work with Karinya House for Mothers and Babies, where she is president of the charity's committee, Sarah is equally known for her fashion and styling advice, hosting of events and judging of the fashions on the field at the races.

Fashion has always been a part of her life.

"I can remember being obsessed with it from a little girl," she said.

"Even my school uniform, I'd get it all ready the night before.

"I won this award when I graduated from Year 12 at Daramalan - this is very bizarre - for 'Wearing a School Uniform But Looking Like I Wasn't'. Because I had a white shirt, but it was a grandpa shirt, I had grey woollen pants, but they were from Sportsgirl and I had these leather shoes. It wasn't school uniform, but it just passed."

Sarah Kelly wearing Canberra label Corr Blimey at New York Fashion Week in 2015 as a pregnant Kim Kardashian glides by.

Born in Melbourne and moving with her family to Canberra when she was four, Sarah said her mother was her greatest fashion influence.

"She was a school teacher but just was always very fashionable and always looked gorgeous," she said.

"She looked like Doris Day. She always had capris pants and scarves in her hair. I suppose my sister and I looked at her very closely."

In Canberra, she always tried to promote local and new designers, and was a big supporter of the Fashfest event and a writer for Capital magazine.

"My first work experience I did was with Maggie Shepherd in Canberra in the 1980s, which was basically just cutting up fabric," she said.

"I thought then, 'You know what? I don't want to do fashion design, I just want to wear it'. It's far more fun.

Sarah Kelly in 2009 with her long-time friend and milliner Christine Waring who is helping her with the sale. Picture by Gary Schafer

"So then I started writing about new designers and meeting them all and I thought, 'If I can wear their fashion, that's one way of getting it out there'. I had a lovely relationship with a lot of Canberra designers."

And there was that time in 2015 that she was at the Givenchy show at New York Fashion Week wearing a Corr Blimey design by Canberra's Steve Wright and Louisa de Smet. And Kim Kardashian walked by, Sarah captured in a photograph as the then heavily-pregnant reality star glided by.

"That was a fashion moment," she said.

Aside from all the fashion, Sarah has also worked in the public service, from ASIO in Canberra and Australia House in London in her early days to the British Ministry of Defence and later Prime Minister and Cabinet and and Foreign Affairs and Trade.

She also worked for Labor politicians Bob McMullen and Peter Cook and for Paul Keating when he was prime minister, as a personal assistant to three of his advisors.

Sarah went into the private sector when she had her first child in 2000.

She is looking forward to the next chapter of her life, being close to her daughter in Brisbane while her younger son will finish high school there.

"I just feel, like most women my age, I'd just like another opportunity. To start again is a bit strong, but just to have a new adventure of living in a different city," she said.

Sarah will remain on the boards of Karinya House and St Edmund's College, while her older son will stay in Canberra to finish an apprenticeship. Plenty of reasons to return often.

"So I'm going to be coming back to Canberra quite a bit," she said.

"The ties here will still remain very strong."

  • Sarah Kelly's fashion sale will be at the Narrabundah Community Hall, 63 Boolimba Crescent, Narrabundah, from 10am to 6pm on Saturday and midday until sold out on Sunday.
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