Contained within a cavernous clothing vault three metres deep by four metres wide, myriad designer creations jostle for space surrounded by the shoes and jewels and lingerie that comprise Ms Smith's splendid collection.
But this month, some of Ms Smith's most prized pieces will disappear from her closet for the benefit of Brisbane style voyeurs.
Dreaming of Chanel is the latest fashion exhibition to hit town, following a string shown at the Queensland Art Gallery including Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones, the Easton Pearson retrospective and the blockbuster GoMA show Valentino
Future.
It opens at the Queensland University of Technology's art museum on August 26, in conjunction with the 2011 Brisbane Fashion Festival, and Ms Smith says the display of 40 garments and accessories will be a tribute to the timeless style and verve of legendary French designer Gabrielle
“In general Chanel just represents that passion and striving for perfection - a woman who in a very male-dominated world could come up with something very different,” Ms Smith says.
“She was the one who showed women how to dress casually, who used jerseys and fabrics not commonly worn, and, of course, who introduced the little black dress.''
Built from a vast array of clothing she inherited from her vivacious American godmother, a Quaker named Doris Darnell, Ms Smith's fashion anthology features more than 5,559 pieces of vintage clothing and accessories.
The Darnell Collection is considered the largest private collection of clothing in Australia, and its owner has been making improvements since it came into her possession seven years ago, and publishing two books based on it - Dreaming of Chanel, from which the exhibition takes its title, and Dreaming of Dior.
Though the labels stitched to most of the pieces read as a who's who of international fashion – garments by Dior, Lucile, Vionnet, Balenciaga and Pucci will be displayed alongside
Ms Smith believes the most valuable items are by no means the most expensive.
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