Maggie Tabberer was discovered by the photographer Helmut Newton early on in his career. Maggie was a very young Adelaide (South Australia) based model at the time. A week later she was in Melbourne, working for Newton, shooting a national cosmetics campaign. Tall, classically beautiful, blue eyed Maggie T continued to model for Newton for three years.

Helmut Newton is known for his adventurous and sometimes controversial fashion photographs. He developed these techniques while shooting Maggie. He would make her jump out of helicopters in stiletto heels or teeter on the top of a huge wool bale on top of a two-storey truck. The ever professional Maggie obliged and ended up with swollen ankles and bruises. But the photos spoke for themselves.

When Helmut Newton left for Paris Maggie gave up photographic work. She worked for designer Hall Ludlow, managing his Sydney Salon, organising shows and modelling his clothes. He said she was 'too beautiful' for catwalk work because women looked at her rather than the clothes she wore.

Maggie T wrote a long-running column for the Daily Mirror and when Jean Shrimpton arrived in Australia clad in a mini-skirt (this being the first mini-skirt Australians had ever seen) Maggie described her as an 'adorable Bambi-ish thing.' She then went on to proclaim 'the mini will NEVER happen' deciding  that women would not want to bare their knees. Maggie may have been behind in forecasting the popularity of the mini but she was fashion-forward enough to be one of the first to wear trousers. She was among countless other women to be turned away from clubs and restaurants simply because they wore pants.

She went on to become the fashion editor of the Australian Women's Weekly. Maggie T is now an Australian Icon.

Last updated: June 01, 2003

Sixties Central, Copyright 1998-2003 by Mandy Hoeymakers.
Information may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes if attribution is given.