Fashionista – Mambo synopsis

Robert Moore loves his job and he’s been at it since 1989. He designs for Mambo and creates what he likes. Mambo may or may not pick up his design but then there’s always another season and one of his designs may be picked up years later when the fashion cycle changes once again.

Fashionista – Mambo curator’s notes

Lee Lin Chin is no surfie girl. The sight of her carrying a Mambo surfboard is quite ridiculous but she’s well able to laugh at herself. Robert Moore is her guide through the weird and wonderful world of surf wear fashion and she’s a willing listener. Lots of fun in the sun with this little gem and some useful information for any budding artist who sees designing t-shirts as a future career option.

Mambo became a multi-million dollar surf wear business selling all over the world but it started in Australia with a group of young people producing graphic designs that were either politically motivated or humorous. Reg Mombassa was one of the group of art school students that began the company. His real name is Chris O’Doherty and he was born in New Zealand. He formed the rock group Mental As Anything with fellow art school students and left it in 2000 to concentrate on his art. Reg Mombassa’s trademark designs for Mambo were distinctively cartoonish with vivid colours and memorable patterns including the tooting dog t-shirt that was almost the trademark of Mambo for many years.

Lee Lin Chin is an SBS icon and started with the multicultural broadcaster in the late 1980s. She was born in Singapore where she began her media career. Her fashion sense and love of designer clothing made her the natural choice as the presenter of Fashionista. She’s a self-confessed fashion junkie. She loves to try on the fashion range of whichever designer she’s featuring and manages to look stunning in most of the outfits. Whether she’s laughing at herself in one of the designer outfits or talking seriously about the business of fashion design, the program is always interesting.

Fashionista series synopsis

Fashionista offers a snapshot of what’s happening and what’s hot in Australian fashion, riding the wave of interest in our designers shown by overseas buyers and going some way to explaining why Australian Fashion Week is always such big news.

Over two series, unashamed fashionista Lee Lin Chin offers ten minutes of all that is cutting-edge in the world of Australian fashion. Described by SBS as 'a cult fashion newsflash at 9.45 pm on Saturday nights’, each program showcases a fashion designer, an artisan of bespoke shoes, fabric, or accessory designers of jewellery, belts or hats. It’s a veritable who’s who of the Australian fashion scene, providing a colourful and sometimes amusing interstitial on Saturday evenings for an industry that was just breaking into prominence on the international scene.

Fashionista series curator’s notes

Fashionista is Lee Lin Chin. She first came to the attention of SBS audiences as the weekend newsreader. Her hairstyles and fashion sense were always on show, even behind the news desk, so it seemed inevitable when SBS found a vehicle to exploit her great passion for fashion.

Lee Lin Chin was born in Jakarta of Chinese heritage and educated in Singapore. She began her career at SBS subtitling Chinese films into English, then became the weekend newsreader in the early 1990s.

Notes by Janet Bell

Education notes

This clip shows artist Robert Moore in his studio explaining to interviewer Lee Lin Chin how he began working for the surf wear company Mambo. As he talks, there is footage of him sketching cars and footage of Mambo designs, the Mambo work team and surfing. Surf music and a rhythmical music soundtrack accompany the visuals. Near the end of the clip, Chin is glimpsed walking with a decorated surfboard under her arm, while skateboarders skate in the foreground.

Educational value points

• Robert Moore (1964–) is an example of a talented artist who has achieved success through a combination of talent, training and persistence. Moore first became aware of Mambo’s distinctive art while on a beach, and Mambo’s first exhibition presented him with the opportunity to show his work to Dare Jennings, the company’s founder. Jennings admired Moore’s passion for his art and the authenticity of his work, and he employed him.
• Moore defies stereotypes of fashion designers or artists and yet he has succeeded in both spheres. He was born and raised in Ipswich, the motor sport centre of Queensland, and is still a self-confessed ‘car nut’. As a young boy he was not exposed to art, but built on his schoolboy interest in drawing cars and planes by studying art at university. The interests that inspired him as a boy – including cars and rock’n’roll – continue to inspire his artwork.
• Mambo’s distinctive artwork has helped to make it an iconic surf wear company in Australia. Founded in 1984 from a large and successful screen-printing business, Mambo creates surf wear and streetwear characterised by strong graphics and a distinctively self-deprecating humour. The talent of the artists that Mambo employs has played a pivotal part in making it one of Australia’s best-known brands.
• An example of the way that art and fashion intersect is revealed when Moore describes how he lets his artwork ‘do the talking’ to those who are responsible for applying it to Mambo garments and other Mambo products. Moore works as a freelancer for Mambo, sending the company artwork that they can choose to use. His artwork has also been displayed in solo and collected exhibitions throughout Australia.
• The clip shows the way that filmmaking can adopt a style that suits the character and nature of the subject. The hand-held camera appears to be eavesdropping on the informal conversation between interviewer Lee Lin Chin and Robert Moore. Moore’s story is intercut with images of cars, waves and Mambo designs. Surf music swells at one point and film of surfing and skateboarding accompanies Moore’s account of the themes that inspire his art.
• Mambo artworks are shown framed and hanging on a wall. Mambo artworks, including paintings, rugs, posters, surfboards, graphics and ceramics, have been exhibited nationally and internationally. The first exhibition was held in Sydney in 1989. In 1993 Mambo was invited to exhibit alongside an international exhibition of surrealist art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia