About Violet Fish "When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you. A joy." - Rumi

 

Violet Fish is the creation of two sisters Jill and Elle. It was inevitable that someone in the family of four girls and two boys would start a fashion label. Everybody in our house sewed and was passionate about clothes!

Violet Fish was our Grandmother: a beautiful creative soul by all accounts. She taught embroidery in David Jones in Sydney in the 1930s and her love and joy in creating beautiful pieces was passed on down through the generations to us.

We started Violet Fish as a way of expressing our creativity and love of all things beautiful and to honour our ancestors by creating beautiful clothing for women.

We are inspired by so much around us. Our unique Australian landscape and amazing flora always has our heart. Our travels to faraway and exotic countries provides new and interesting viewpoints. Vintage fabrics and décor, antique jewellery and crockery fills us with nostalgia for a gentler time. We are never short of ideas!

Eleanor learnt to sew when she was 5. Our mother wore beautiful clothes and was always making us something new or taking us shopping for a new outfit. Any occasion was an opportunity for dress ups.

Elle’s lifelong career in Fashion was born in the 80’s, where she studied Fashion Design in Sydney and after travelling the world and including some time living in Portugal, started her clothing/retail career at Glebe markets selling second hand, revamped clothing and one off designs made from found or vintage fabrics. ”I have always loved Fashion and often spent weekends at home creating new outfits to wear. I find it fascinating the way clothes move and sit on the body, and how some designs work beautifully on some people, and look completely different on others. The challenge always is to create designs that suit the majority of women.”

Eleanor returned to the Blue Mountains as an adult where she runs ‘Maharani’ the Flag-ship store for Violet Fish, in Leura. She has now been working in clothing design and retail for the last 20 years.

“These days I draw my inspiration from my beautiful Blue Mountains home and surrounds. I like clothing that is elegant and flattering, but that has a unique twist about it making the wearer feel beautiful, yet individual.”

Jill studied Fashion at TAFE and worked for years as a patternmaker. “Working with many high-profile fashion brands really crafted my obsession with fit and quality construction. “I find it hard to compromise on these things. I learnt so much from many different masters and I am forever grateful to them for this.” Jill now also teaches part time at University helping other inspiring fashion designers to realize their dreams. “In a time when sewing and patternmaking skills are being lost, I felt the calling to pass on my own expertise before it’s too late”.

Our clothing gently flatters the body and inspires the heart. We want our customers to feel beautiful and confident and comfortable. We only use natural fibres such as cotton, linen, silk, rayon and viscose. Fabrics with beautiful draping properties and breathability. We design most of our prints and these range from vintage inspired to playful and modern. We are continually experimenting and offering new and different styles to our lovely customers.

VF Family