Australian Dress Register

The garment on display was owned by Junior Racer Garry Holt who was a member of the Australian Ski Federation (ASF) B team. He travelled to Europe from Cooma NSW, with the ASF A and B teams in 1976 prior to the Innsbruck Winter Olympics.  There were variations in the team uniform manufactured in Melbourne, according to the team to which the skier belonged.  It was from the A team that the Olympic ski racers were selected.   At one time Garry Holt was amongst Australia’s top 10 alpine ski racers. In 1978 Garry became ski instructor in the Thredbo School where he taught for six years.  Garry Holt lived in Cooma, NSW where his father operated a business (based on a conversation with Kim Clifford, June 2015).

 The suit was worn by Mr Garry Holt who was a member of the Australian Ski Federation B Team.  The Australian Ski Federation Teams had their own different uniform but stayed in the same hotel as the Olympians prior to the 1976 Winter Olympic Games at Innsbruck, Austria. 

“Mr Henke recalls that when the fabric was designed by Prue Acton arrived, she asked if it could be remade with wider stripes.  Ms Acton says that when the fabric arrived, both she and designer husband Mike Treloar found the stripes to be much wider than their specification.  There was no time to have the fabric re-done.  Ms Acton recalled that suite of garments she designed for these Olympians as comprising black corduroy trousers and striped jumpers (‘walking out suit’) and gold coloured one-piece ski suits for the actual racing.  She describes the striped two-piece suit as the ‘warm up suit’ to go over racing gear.  She did not recall the striped helmets.

Ms Acton regards her particular innovation at these Games as shifting the palette away from green and toward gold.”  (Bullock V, 2013 p. 40, 41, based in part on an interview with Prue Acton on 26 February 2013 and two emails with Geoff Henke dated 14th and 17th March 2013).

Ms Acton stated in her email dated 17 March 2015 to Christina Webb:  “My recollection is only slightly different; Mike Treloar and I had specified a narrow black and white stripe and Geoff was unable to source a similar design so we had to compromise with the wider stripe he had found.  The walking out suit included a brown sheep skin coat.  The striped ski jumper with a large kangaroo motif on the chest, became a huge seller for an Australian company who copied it without permission!”

When the ski suit was worn on the slopes, journalist and photographer Bill Bachman said they looked like something “between a crossword puzzle and a zebra” (Bachman B, 1976).  .  

This garment was designed by the Australian fashion designer Prue Acton, OBE (born 26 April 1943).  In 1963 Prue Acton established her own fashion design business in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, and by age 21 she was turning over 350 designs a year and selling an average of 1,000 dresses a week through 80 outlets in Australia and New Zealand. As her fashion business took off, Acton also began to develop her own range of cosmetics to complement the range. In 1967 she became the first Australian female designer to mount a show of her own range of garments in New York.   By 1982 the estimated world-wide sales of her designs was $11 million with garments sold in Australia, Japan, USA, Canada, New Zealand, and her designs made under licence in America, Japan and Germany.

Acton also designed the Australian Olympic uniforms (1978, Lake Placid, USA); (1984, Los Angeles); (1988, Seoul).  (www. Wikipedia viewed  August 10, 2015)

This information comes from:

1)      Bullock, V. 2013. “Thredbo Historical Society Significance Assessmentfor a 2012 Community Heritage Grant”. Published by Significance International, p. 38 - 42

2)      Bachman, W. 1976. Australian Ski Year Book ‘76 “The Martin Kerscher Sunshine Tour Christmas Special”.  Victorian Ski Association on behalf of the Australian Ski Federation.  p. 14 – 18

3)      Australian Ski Federation 1976.   Australian Ski Year Book ‘76 “Australian and Olympic Team – Europe 1976/76”. Victorian Ski Association on behalf of the Australian Ski Federation.  p. 19.

4)      Consolidated Press 1976. “Australia’s New Winter Olympic Uniforms”.  Australian Women’s Weekly Magazine February 18, 1976, p.7 (www.trove.nls.gov.au viewed March25, 2015

5)      Prue Acton- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (www. wikipedia viewed  August 10, 2015)

Copyright clearance has been received for images

The garment has been on display at the Thredbo Historical Society's Ski Museum in Thredbo since circa 1998

There are no trimmings or decoration on the garment

1. Colour: Charcoal black and ochre with black lining. Black knitted cuffs.

2. Fibre: Nylon and imitation synthetic suede. Nylon lining with synthetic padded inner lining, synthetic wool.

3. Weave: Closely woven synthetic fabric. The matt appearance to give suede look

4. Location for all parts included in this record: charcoal black and white nylon and ochre imitation suede wide inserts on the jacket and pants, with black nylon lining plus inner thin layer of padding on of both parts. The jacket sleeves have black machine knitted cuffs.

The entire garment is machine stitched

There are two labels:

1) Prue Acton Design

2) Designed Olympia, Louis Preiss Melbourne

All the zips are narrow nylon zips. 

Two black metal press studs at the centre front of the rink collared jacket.

The jacket has a full length centre front zip closing, The jacket pockets are sewn into the seams. One jacket pocket is located on the lower right hand front side of the jacket between vertical and horizontal stripes. On either side of the jacket at between the ochre and striped seams are pockets below the waist line.

The trousers have a bib pocket with two press stud fasteners and there is a press stud fastener on the 'overboot' cuff.  The trousers have zips from the top of the “bib” to the bottom of the leg. The fly has a zip opening.

The shoulder straps have metal buckles attaching them to the top of the trouser bib.

The inner padding of the suit is a layer of thin synthetic wadding

 Related articles and publications associated with the garment include: 

1) Thredbo Historical Society Significance Assessment for a 2012 Community Heritage Grant.  Pages 38 - 42 (Veronica Bullock, Significance International, 2013)                                

2) Australian Ski Year Book 1976 “The Martin Kerscher Sunshine Tour Christmas Special” (Bill Bachman) pages 14 – 18.           

3) Australian Women’s Weekly Magazine, February 18, 1976, page 7  www.trove.nla.gov.au25 March 2015

Copyright has been received for images used

In 2003 the repair of a tear incurred by the wearer in 1976 at the centre back of the jacket, was hand stitched by Christina Webb in order to improve the appearance of the garment when on display.  The original vertical tear was overlaid with a patch of the fabric removed from the interior of a pocket.

See image for evidence of repair