This story more or less started at Paddington markets When it first came into being,” in the early 1970s..glorious parade of freaks, expressing all sorts of diverse culture.

 clothing makers unconstrained, by previous fashion doctrine,mostly aided by substances that Aldous Huxley said created the “Doors of Perception”

Hippies  could be seen spinning their own silk, and creating clothes out of it, Jewellers, and collectors of everything… from  ethnic clothing to other curiosities from the east….not seen before in the West in such a vast array ,as they came back from  the hippie trail, Through Asia to London.Also Lee Lin Chin the S.B.S news reader..visited before she was well known,and to this day expresses through her fashion the originality of creativity that abounded.She could be seen selecting pieces that Reflected that elemental originality.  in diverse stalls in this market.

There were also people like myself who were discovering astonishing things in the thrift shops, never to be seen again, beautiful lace Victorian underwear , that was worn as tops and dresses, and smooth quality silk nighties from the 1930s, and 40s with beautiful embroidery, and of course the glass beaded chiffon dresses that are now sell  in  four figures…   many of the vintage clothes were collected by dealers  that were ladies.. Being a male, and experiencing astonishing clothing for the first time in my first job working in a cutting-edge shop selling Carnaby Street clothing in 1965, then going on to be a leading male model wearing the latest 60s and 70s clothing, taking Aldous Huxley’s advice and experiencing the chemical’s used for the doors of perception, dropping out of mainstream society and enjoying a a different unhurried timeless world where shopping in op shops was the way to access clothing which was almost free, was the beginning of fibre archaeology, was it because because clothing was within my DNA (one ancestor in great Yarmouth, Suffolk England was a supplier of clothing to Admiral Nelson) or was it the  father who took us to all the MGM musicals and Broadway type live musicals at the iconic Royal theatre in Sydney with costumes showing all the different fashions of the different eras, that allowed me with unfurling accuracy, to choose a particular& clothing that might have been suitable for a film or TV series like (come spinner) on the ABC, who only ever rejected about 2% of the clothing I sent them. Up till then the changes in men’s fashions weren’t dramatic. Therefore not so noticeable,… to most people, as they were discarded to the thrift shops in deceased estates. This worked to my advantage in making accurate choices which came to the fore when I was then noticed at the Paddington market by the wardrobe people from Kennedy Miller (the producer of “Mad Max”), who were making a production called “Bodyline

This was a television mini-series about Harold Larwood, the Yorkshire cricketer on the English team in the 1930s, who intimidated Donald Bradman’s cricket team.  At my stall at Paddington, I had on display some genuine old cricket flannels, and the interesting white suede leather boots as worn by these cricketers.  As I talked to the wardrobe people,who were surprised to see they could purchase vintage cricket clothing from my stall, I realised then that there was value in hitherto unnoticed, even plain clothing, because it was old, authentic and it had a context.and rather than just beautiful ladies dresses et cetera, I  could also broaden my search to include things like rural clothing, from op shops in the country.. if it was worn out  it was still suitable because especially then some people, like a farmer, or a labourer, or people living in poverty would be dressing like this