Managing Director Sheri McEvoy’s foremothers lives were moulded by the experiences they had in the Pacific and Australia over generations, after European settlement. The lives of these artistic women tell a story.
Sheri’s grandmother and mother were both named Florabel, and their profound creative energy, remarkable achievements are now honoured through the development of the multi-purpose venue and Australian-made fashion line in Eden, NSW.
Florabel Williams, Sheri’s grandmother (1890-1953), was the head chef at the elegant Metropole Hotel in Sydney in the 1930s, and Sheri’s mother, Florabel Harrison (1915-1996), was a talented fashion designer and fashion editor of the Bulletin in Sydney in 1937, at the tender age of 17.
You would never have heard of them or their artistry despite their brilliance, as both women ultimately forewent impressive careers for romance, love, and consequent domestic life.
An artist and fashion designer in her own right, Sheri believes this quandary of career versus romance is a state common to many women which needs to be put right.
Through history, these women have greatly influenced the core concept of the exclusive Florabel Flagship Store today. The flair, refinement and humour that drove the Florabel women led them to pursue paths for artistic expression, despite the demands of domestic drudgery.
With her passion for design, Florabel Harrison also reunited women in her sewing parlour, offering an intimate commune and camaraderie which has all but disappeared. Innate to the women of those times, the warm atmosphere of the sewing parlour was an institution, offering a culture of calm and togetherness.
Florabel Williams was appointed in her esteemed role at the ritzy Metropole Hotel without any formal qualifications, with her panache, intelligence, raw talent, refinement and sense of humour equipping her well. The elegant establishment offered fine cuisine to wealthy and famous patrons, and Florabel delighted in defying conventions of the time, adding theatrics to her engagement with them.
The exclusive Florabel Flagship Store is aptly located in Eden, a fishing village on the edge of the Pacific; a coastline that shaped and inspired all the Florabels since they left Europe over six generations ago.
A small museum exploring the Florabel story across the generations can be found among a melee of amazing creations the talented women themselves would have loved.