JEAN Bas was 11 and living in Cooranbong when her family home burnt to the ground.
The disaster led to her discovering a talent and passion that has since kept evolving.
"After the fire I got a lot clothes given to me and they didn't fit," she recalls.
"A lovely lady down the road had a Singer sewing machine in the garage and I learnt to redesign and recut the clothes, my brother used to help me do the fittings on me and I'd resew them in my size ... I just wanted to look fabulous."
The early life lesson in resilience served Bas well as she went on to gain her fashion stripes at East Sydney Technical College and teach fashion design before opening her eponymous boutique in King Street, Newcastle, in 1981.
Since then the fashion designer has sold her label in David Jones on the east coast - and had her threads showcased in their flagship Sydney store - and other boutiques, designed uniforms for corporates including NIB, grown a loyal clientele and raised a family with creative partner and husband Kevin.
When coronavirus temporarily closed her store, Bas was overwhelmed with "gracious" gestures of support from her landlord, the Newcastle community and clients at home and abroad.
She has emerged from Covid-19 to launch her Jean Bas Design Lab Kits. Each kit has Australian merino wool fabric, patterns, calico and every item needed by clients to make their own garment. It is accompanied by online tutorials delivered by Bas and her head couturier Lisa Turton, who will also stay in touch via Zoom.
The first kit's garment is a fringed wrap jacket, with more planned.
The Kits are an extension of the in-studio masterclasses Bas has run for four years, which were popular but restricted by dates, class size and sheer geography.
Having endured tough retail times amid bushfires, car races and light rail construction, Bas says a silver lining to the pandemic is that it has rekindled creative pursuits.
Her goal is to package the range of kits into a collection.
"We are not doing things that are already there - we are trying to be remarkable," she says.
Bas believes Australia's multicultural makeup will help it revive the rag trade.
"I feel Australia has lost a lot of its industry... All our wool doesn't have to go to Italy to be woven, why can't we do that here?" she says.
"I'd like people to look more into their villages and support the local person because if we are not supported we have to go away."
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