Christine Fisher-Lathwell – Dressing a window

Before I went home at night, I would know which window I was doing in the morning, so often just before I went home I would go up and ask them what sort of colours they were putting in, had they chosen the things? Sometimes they hadn’t but if they had told me or showed me the garments, then I would start thinking up what relates to that? What is this? Is this rainwear? Do I … for instance I remember making shards of nylon thread. It was at the back of the display, coming down and then marking each one in black, space, black, space and that gave the impression of rain, so Alligator Rainwear would be on display.

So, to make something, if I knew in advance I might have to go down to Rolfe’s Art Gallery down Union Street and buy things. I would buy sometimes different coloured cardboard they sold, and I would either cut letters out or cut shapes out that I wanted. If it was raindrops, it would be raindrop shape, and then as the year progressed, I got a little bit more adventurous and I bought myself a jigsaw. My dad suggested this because I could see that you could make things out of hardboard.

So I learnt to make things out of hardboard. So, I would draw them out downstairs, cut them out and then paint them or do whatever I had to do. Put wooden struts at the back to make sure they stayed right, so at that point I … that’s when I began making props. I in fact used that same idea many years later when I was working in Hill’s. But if the theme was Christmas, I remember sitting making endless elves and fairies out of bits of felt and fluorescent wings, you know just having them hanging down.

I sort of began to realise that you couldn’t have the props in the front. They had to be at the back because the garments were most important, and I would then, in my mind … then I’d go home, lay there and think what can I do to do this, you know. How can I display it?