“Bottle green is a good serviceable colour,” my mother Thelma used to say. I was growing up on the Derwent cattle station, northwest of Alice Springs. It was a tough, nearly all-male environment of ringers and Aboriginal stockmen. The dust got everywhere, even into the house because we had gauze, not glass, in the windows. Sometimes I used to think bottle green was the only colour because my practical Mum would dye everything that dark shade. Our shorts and singlets were bottle green. The bed linen was bottle green. And of course, when my Aunt Gladys, who ran a boutique in Sydney, sent me pretty dresses in pink and lemon, my mother wanted to dye them too.

        I am not complaining. I had a happy, healthy childhood out on the station. But the feminine and creative side of me was desperate for expression. I looked at the fashion pictures in the Woman’s Weekly. My favourite reading matter was the David Jones catalogue.

        As a little girl, I had taken lessons by correspondence course. When I was 12, I went to a boarding school run by the Methodist Inland Mission. This was my chance to see the “bright lights” of the “big city” – Alice Springs. Actually, there were not too many fashion shops there either but going to church twice every Sunday gave me a chance to see how the ladies dressed.

        When I grew up, I decided I wanted to see the world. I went to the United States and Europe. I lived in Ireland for three years and I also visited London and Paris before I returned to Australia and married Mick Hayes, a cattle station boy I had known since childhood.

        I worked in The Dressing Room for seven years before I took over the boutique myself. I sell classic clothes that enable women to look elegant while living the relaxed Aussie lifestyle. The labels I sell include Simona, Trent Resort, Ping Pong, Geoff Bade and Country Belle. I cater for all ages, including young women who come to me for formal evening wear for their high-school graduation balls.

        My colours range from chic black and white to banana yellow, tangerine  and emerald. I have pastel pinks, blues and mauves. A whole rainbow of colours, in fact. As for bottle green, you could get that colour in my shop but you would probably have to order it specially!

 Patsy Hayes

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