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Australian icon closes retail

An Australian fashion icon has left the shop floor, after 42 years in the retail business.

Australian fashion legend Vivian Chan Shaw has closed her last boutique in the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) to take the label online.

Chan Shaw was one of the original tenants when the historic QVB re-opened in 1986.

She started her eponymous label 42 years ago and has been a destination fixture in the building for 28 years. 

The last day of trade in the QVB will be Saturday 15 November.

Business partner and daughter Claudia Chan Shaw is in the process of developing a new online site in response to the changing retail landscape.

The site will sell the designer's signature handmade knitwear, as well as the label’s hand crafted jewellery collection.

It will also feature vintage Vivian Chan Shaw designs selected from their extensive archives. 

Chan Shaw's garments are also represented in the Powerhouse Museum collection.

Every item presented online will be a one-off design.

Vivian Chan Shaw started her fashion career in Sydney in the 1960s as designer and fashion co-ordinator for leading bridal fabric specialists, René and Canns.

She moved on to fashion retail as a manager for the In Shoppe and the House of Merivale.

With this background in design and retail, Vivian opened her boutique Jeunesse in 1972 in the Royal Arcade under the Sydney Hilton Hotel.

Here, she established a following for her hand made one-off garments and caught the attention of international stars Dionne Warwick, Bo Derek, Margaux Hemingway and Roberta Flack.

The 1980s saw the designer switch to hand loomed knitwear and she opened her flagship store in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building in 1986.

The QVB has been the label’s home for the past 28 years.

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