Who are you?
My name is Биљана
Божићкович but I go by the moniker of Billie Bossanova – it’s so much easier
for skips to pronounce. I meet lots of
elderly Billie’s around (I’m always chatting to the oldies) and we get a kick
out of talking about our common interests and nickname. I’m very proud of my real name and my
heritage so the moniker isn’t about removing my self from that, more a
convenience thing. Plus I quite like
having an alter ego.
My parents
immigrated from Yugoslavia to Australia with my sister and I when we were little
in 1970. While they worked I spent the days watching endless amounts of midday
movies (Fred, Ginger, Gene, Elvis, Humphrey, Lauren, Katherine and Marilyn
became my family), teaching myself how to sew on the old Singer that was left
in the house we lived in and designing outfits for my paper dolls. In the first few years in Australia my mother
would buy clothes from the charity shops, which to her was quite shameful, but
I loved them. I clearly remember buying
my first pair of 50’s stiletto’s when I was about 6 and willing myself to grow
faster to be able to fit into them, which happened when I was about 12 and I
wore those shoes for the next 30 years, painting them a variety of colours to
match outfits I made.
When I was
13 I went to my first high school dance in a 50’s prom dress with matching
shoes and handbag. That was in 1979 and everybody
thought I was just REALLY into Grease, which had been released the year before. Thankfully not long after that I met other
like minded people and I didn’t feel like such an alien. I started socializing with people who also
felt like outsiders, punks, skins, rockabilly’s, new romantics, gays and that
has been a constant in my life. I’m
drawn to the theatre of life and those that take it all the way.
My love of
charity shops and vintage clothes has never ever waned, and I find it very very
hard to pass one without having a ‘quick look’.
In fact, when I moved back to Brisbane a decade a go I bought my house
mostly because it was walking distance to 2 antique centers and a dozen charity
shops! I swear it’s an illness, but I
just can’t help but want to save everything old and beautiful. I am getting better, mostly because I fear
I’m about to be featured on some hoarders television show.
Describe your style?
This is
hard because I have different looks to suit my many moods, but they are all
still very much me. I never dress for
anyone but myself. I go from very simple with minimal accessories
to wearing hats with whole birds on them and my body weight in costume
jewelry. Whilst my base wardrobe is
early 40’s-mid 50’s, I have favorite pieces from the 60’s - 80’s too. I especially love 70’s does 30’s and 40’s –
not the polyester stuff, but the printed cottons and silks of the Ossie Clark
& Celia Birtwell collaborations. In
fact it’s my love of this era that makes me want to become a textile designer
one day, when I grow up.
I spent my
first 40 years wearing mostly 50’s vintage and 50’s style pieces. This last decade I’ve retrograded and wear
far more 40’s and 30’s. This is mostly
due to finally learning how to swing dance after watching others dancing most
of my life! Wearing the original
clothing while dancing to swing music is the closest thing to reliving all my
childhood fantasies watching those midday movies.
Who is your favourite style icon and why?
My icons
tend to be the designers as much as the wearers – Edith Head, Gilbert Adrian,
Walter Plunkett, Travis Banton, Christian Dior.
I would wear pretty much anything worn by Joan Crawford, Barbara
Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe on and off screen.
Modern day
designers I adore are John Galliano (even though his personal views are NOT
something I admire), the late great Alexander McQueen (and his muse Isabella
Blow) and more recently Ulyana Sergeenko – her avant garde take on vintage is
totally up my alley, if only I had the legs and budget!
In everyday
life, the people I admire the most are not necessarily wearing what I would,
but they are so true to themselves that they can do no wrong style wise. That’s what I find most attractive, when
people know who they are and they own it in every way. They don’t dress for the compliments of
others or just for the sake of what’s currently fashionable or what they think
they should be wearing.
Name your 5 essential fashion pieces.
I am the QUEEN
of light packing when I travel – I rarely ever take more than a handbag and
hand luggage.
The 5 essential pieces for
me would be
1. Well tailored, high waisted trousers
– either cigarette or wide legged.
2. A flattering skirt – for me it’s
either a 40’s A line or 50’s pencil skirt.
3. Comfortable mid heel shoes – either
babydoll or peep toe so I can style myself either 40’s or 50’s with one pair of
shoes. You have to be able to walk all
day and dance all night in them.
4. A lovely coat/jacket to complete a
look.
5. A bag of accessories that can turn
your outfit from day to night – a beautiful belt, scarf that can be made into a
turban or just wrapped around your neck, a brooch and any other bling that
makes you feel special.
Do you have a special prized fashion piece in
your wardrobe?
Despite
losing over 20 years’ worth of collection about a decade ago, I have re-accumulated
a lot of special things, each with its own reason for being in my wardrobe (if
I get my hands on something with a back story it always becomes special).
But my most precious item is a 20’s/very
early 30’s bias cut gown that is too big for my midget frame, and sadly also
too delicate to be worn. It is the most
amazing rich royal blue colour silk crepe and the detail in it makes me want to
cry.
I often take her from her acid free
wrapping and box and just look at her imaging who wore it and where too – and
how the hell she ended up in a little vintage store in Brisbane.
What is something surprising about you?
Most people
are amused at my taste in music. I think
because of the way I look and my age they expect me to just listen to sweet
swing songs and pretty little 50’s ditties.
My preference is for post punk/industrial/goth. I love a huge variety of other styles
including Northern Soul and underground Australiana and British from the 70’s
and 80’s.
And of course I do love swing,
soul and jazz (though not white man jazz), and I prefer my 50’s sounds to be
dark and dirty rather than Doris Day with the exception of country classics
like Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline.
I
think my love of fashion from 20’s-80’s is matched by my love of the music from
those decades too.
Do you have a favourite sewing pattern? What is
it?
I have a
HUGE stash of 40’s and 50’s sewing and knitting patterns, fabric and yarn ready
to be created into masterpieces – but I’ve not had the time or mental state to make
much for myself the past decade.
I’m
hoping that that will change in the very near future and that I’ll be boring
everyone with my posts of my creating adventures.
Until then I live vicariously through other
people’s creations – I’m really enjoying the resurgence of people making
clothes for themselves. I hate waste and
throwaway culture so this sits well with both my ethical standpoint and my
aesthetic.
