Alannah Hill

Alannah Hill's Biography

Alannah Hill is the Founder and Designer of Alannah Hill, one of Australia's most recognisable and unique fashion brands. She is the author of two books, Butterfly on a Pin and The Handbag of Happiness (and other misunderstandings, misadventures and misdemeanours)

Alannah is also a MUCH sought after Public Speaker and self confessed sticky beak!

'My flaneur-like sticky-beaking suits my habit of catapulting through people’s lives, treating conversations like a 60 Minutes in-depth interview with no ad break. I feel the art of sticky-beaking is a respectable cultural practice, part anthropologist, part private eye and part comedian"

Alannah's uniquely ornamental vision along with a passionate belief in the power of 'Dressing Up' gave Alannah the success she dreamed about growing up with her parents and four siblings on an apple orchard in Geeveston Tasmania.

When Alannah was 16, she left Tasmania, hauling eight suitcases filled with berserk 'costumes' her mothers wedding ring and $50 cash. She was going to find her fortune - but how? She didn't know a soul and not a soul new her.

Alannah launched her first designs, in 1990 at Indigo Boutique where she worked for sixteen years!

In 1997 Alannah, along with (Factory X ) her financial backers launched the first Alannah Hill bow week on Chapel Street. The Alannah Hill Brand Hill became one of Australia’s most trailblazing, instantly recognisable and iconic fashion houses. By 2014, Alannah Hill was home to eighteen fashion Boutiques, forty David Jones concession stores and represented Internationally on the High Streets of London in Department Stores: Fenwick, Selfridges, Harrods and Browns. In NYC, Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks on Fifth Avenue.

Alannah's ultra feminine designs set the fashion world on fire with The Alannah Hill brand enjoying extraordinary success in the Australian and International fashion world. Alannah styled the It-Girls of the moment – Kylie Minogue, Helena Christensen, Dannii Minogue, Deborah Conway, Angie Heart, Nicole Kidman, Katy Perry, and Courtney Love.

In 1980 Alannah appeared as a 'featured extra' in Richard Lowenstein's cult film, Dogs in Space. She was also the  Love Interviewer /Researcher for the U2 documentary, When Love Comes To Town.

In 2013, Alannah released a statement informing her many loyal fans that she was leaving her role as Creative Director/Founder of Alannah Hill. The shock of Alannah’s departure from her own label captured the public and the media’s imagination.

In 2015, Alannah launched her highly anticipated fashion brand, LOUISE LOVE to critical acclaim selling her designs online and through David Jones. Unfortunately, in 2016 Alannah was diagnosed with Melanoma and sat down to write her memoir, Butterfly on a Pin.

Alannah’s shocking and exhilarating story describes her journey of transformation from a joyless and abusive childhood to a dream come true career peak of love, loss and reinvention.

Published in May 2018, Butterfly on A Pin was Australia’s number 1 best-selling memoir.

Alannah's new book, The Handbag of Happiness (and other misunderstandings, misadventures and misdemeanours) is a collection of rollicking, defiant real-life stories where self improvement is satire  and life changing moments are found in the absurdity of our odd little lives. The Handbag Of Happiness was released in November 2020 (Hardie Grant Publishing).

Speaking Topics Include

Love, Despair and Reinvention  (In-conversation)

Inspiring people with her courage, wit and raw intelligence, Alannah recounts her journey from a tiny milk bar in Penguin, Tasmania to the world stage of fashion. From extreme hardship to hard-won wisdom, she takes the audience on her wild ride to success and motherhood, then through the sorrow of losing her mother and her brand name. Alannah’s public appearances promoting her memoir have left audiences breathless with laughter and shaken by tears.

 

 ‘I’ll Show You!’ How Alannah Hill achieved her impossible dream of becoming a  fashion superstar

Alannah Hill learnt to cover the emotional scars of her childhood with a veneer of fearlessness, an armour of glamour, and a mask of makeup. She left Tasmania at 16, driven to prove she could make something of her life. A natural entrepreneur, her uniquely feminine designs eventually became the hallmark of an international brand. To the outside world, Alannah was living her dream but behind the scenes, she was unraveling. This is her inspiring story of taking the fashion world by storm; a story that will leave the audience believing anything is possible.

 

 What Women Want: Alannah unlocks the secrets of meeting the needs of the most powerful consumers

What women want: Alannah unlocks the secrets of meeting the needs of the most powerful consumers Alannah Hill is the original queen of marketing and customer service. Today, she feels fashion has lost touch with what women want, despite the availability of big data and every analytical tool imaginable. She shares stories from her time at Indigo Boutique in 80s Melbourne, through to the heyday of her eponymous label, all through the lens of sales, marketing and customer service. Naturally curious and intuitively creative, Alannah translated conversations with customers about how they wanted to feel into her next collection. She talks about her knack for selling, how to harness your intuition, and why every retail experience needs to be personalised.