The Fat Story So Far
A testimonial from Gemma’s blog to start…
“Maybe Fat is kinda too cool for a semi-nerdy girl like me, but so much about these stores is undeniably heart warming and sincere that the layer of cool melts away as I fall in love with a new pair of glittering earrings or plastic shoes. I'm proud that these arbiters of top Aussie design are flourishing and spreading their wings. A brand new Fat has hit the low-down end of Brunswick Street ... and well, the point of all this is that their patchwork, linoleum floor sent me into head spinning happiness. Reminds me of all the best 1940's kitchens and old school barber's shops of my childhood. Great great great ...” Gemma
The Fat4 are Bianca Wiegard, Rachael Cotra, Sarah Hamilton and Kym Purtell.
Their unbridled love for all things offbeat and intrinsically original in design had their beginnings at 52 Johnston St Fitzroy the year 1998. The store affectionately know as fat 52, quickly became know as the epicentre for the Australian Avant-garde and contemporary fashion and design scene. Tapping into the new ‘creative push’ blossoming in Australia at the time, proved to be something more than the four young artists ever expected. A year and a half later they opened another Fat door, on the other side of the river at 272 Chapel St Prahran. Now firmly in the collective consciousness, they took seriously the demands from Sydney folk, who were making special trips interstate to shop at the Melbourne stores, and in 2002 opened up between City and surf at 18 Oxford St in Woollahra. Fat 3000 was to be the most ambitious project to date, set in the majestic arched splendour of Melbourne’s GPO. Art deco met Alice in wonderland for this project, giving the environment and Fat a lasting name in fashion, retail, Art and Design. Fat’s latest project was to relocate the girls beloved first Fat store to 209 Brunswick St Fitzroy, mid 2005. Inspired by the imagination of Mark Ryden it is the latest offering from the Fat four, whom no matter what never want to stop creating!