I remember when I was seventeen, my friends and I would rock massively oversized pants and baggy overalls to help obscure the items which we lifted from the shelves of our local shops. That was never a good look. Luckily Fee Dunaway is making it possible for us to stick to tight pants these days by doing the dirty work for us.
Fee threads thrifty finds from the suburbs; computer keys, baby mobiles, fishing flies and key rings, onto gold chains and oversized broaches. It’s as if she has collected all the shit your parents threw in the trash when you moved out and is selling it straight back to you.
Fee: I get lots of inspiration from shoplifting in suburban op shops, maternity stores, fishing stores and souvenir emporiums. So much so that my friends call me Finona Ryder.
VICE: Ah, that’s why your street name is DONEAWAY. I don’t get the st bernard licks part.
Fee: Ok, you know when you want to make a boy feel real good? Well that’s what my jewellery wants to do, but to a girl. There’s nothing better than a St Bernard lick to zip open the fanny pack. My accessories are similar; they’re an opening move, a piece of stimulation to create the night’s look around. There’s one item that I made from an old baby coat hanger.
VICE: What freak’s going to wear a baby coat hanger?
Fee: It doesn’t resemble its original form. I cut off the 2D Mother Hubbard characters from the plastic frame and linked them to a gold chain. I dress up suburban trash with a wave of the wand; bling. Due to the random nature of the garbage man, most of the pieces are one-offs, and I mean ‘one-offs’, like, one earring. Bar flies always ask me whether I have lost an earring. I reply, shoo fly, don’t bother me unless your name be Ozone. I always wanted to be Kelly in Electric Boogaloo.
VICE: Kelly was a good role model.
Fee: Yeah. I like her heaps more than today’s idols. A lot of hip-hop and r’n’b stars lost their way a few years back and became a slave to logos. With the licks, I’m bringing street jewellery back to its crafty roots. I am not trying to be ironic. My childhood was filled with making bracelets and charms from the scraps around me. There’s a lot to salvage from the suburbs. And, sister, can I call you sister?
VICE: Give it to me.
Fee: Why, sister, a girl should never have to drag her arse into debt to look good.
TIMOTHY MOORE
FEE DONEAWAY & the st bernard licks jewellery is available through Hudson—299 Carlisle St, Balaclava, Victoria.
