by Suzan Ryan , under Interviews
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As a visionary in art and design, Peter Travis is one of Australia’s best kept secrets. But on the 50th anniversary of its invention, the Speedo remains Peter’s most famous creation….
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| Interview: Rob O’Brien / Photos: Hugh O’Brien |
Where did your passion for fashion design come from?
At three-and-a-half years old, a woman next door taught me macramé, knotting… I made all sorts of things—bags, sandals. When I was older, I went to [Sydney store] Anthony Hortons and saw this loom there. I was fascinated by how things could go over and under in different ways. Instead of buying one with two frames, I bought one with eight—and became a compulsive creator. I made everything; I tried every craftunder the sun. My father died when I was 11… As a young boy, I used to walk from Balgowlah [between The Spit and Manly] to the Sydney Conservatorium for my piano lessons.
What drove you into swimwear design?
I worked at Farmers, which was easily the most beautiful clothing store in Australia—where Myer is today. Grace Brothers brought them out. The background at Farmers gave me more fabric knowledge. I had wanted to leave to become a furniture designer. Everything I was passionate about was to do with shape and colour. I would have loved to have been a scientist or architect, but I was a nervous boy at school and my father’s death affected me terribly.
But you moved from dress design to electronics. How did that work out?
I designed TVs and radios—I was head designer at [electronics manufacturer] Phillips. But I found that so boring, because how many times can you redesign a television? I thought being an industrial designer would be fantastic, but it was like the opposite of design. It was awful and it offered very little creativity.
Is that when Speedo offered you the job?
I got offered the position of head designer at Jantzen, the biggest swimwear company in the world. I was
shocked, but accepted a counter offer from Speedo in the late 1950s—I’d worked with them before on their knitwear collection
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Were Speedos intended to make such a dramatic public statement?
No. Speedo was a knitting mill—they only made knitted things. They had brought back from the States a Hawaiian shirt and boxer shorts and asked me to make a similar line. I told them that before I did anything I’d make a swimsuit you could actually swim in, because the traditional trunks obstructed between the thighs. You really couldn’t swim in them. You had to have something that started on the hips because of the way your body twists. You lift your legs and the cut can’t be any deeper than that at the side, and that’s for freedom of movement. I put support in, but a lot of guys cut the support out because it showed more off… That’s the truth of it. I was wise enough to know that in the country, they weren’t going to accept that original size to begin with, so I made them more fitted on the body and varied the depth—they were seven inches, five inches and two inches along the side—a slow conversion to what was the ultimate design.
Did you expect cult status?
Well, it’s become a generic term for anything of that shape, so “Speedos” now means any brief of that sort. People who wear them are swimmers, and anyone has a right to wear that kind of thing—it’s not to be looked at. It wasn’t a fashion statement, it was something entirely practical. I thought that something that fitted the body would enhance the body, and it does.
And Tony Abbott?
He swims and he has a right to wear that. People who make those kinds of criticisms are being unfair.
But surely at the time Speedos were way beyond the realms of modesty?
When they were first worn on Bondi Beach, a beach inspector named Abe Laidlaw was rushing around measuring the sides of people’s costumes to ensure they were decent. He had several people arrested.
Did they do jail time?
No. The magistrate said they were okay because no pubic hair was showing.
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:Australia, interview, peter travis, speedo
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