On the hottest day of the year Arakwal woman Elaine George and her daughter, Taylor Tanaka, are in the Palm House in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens as the fierce sun beats through the ceiling. Elaine gaily declares she can easily handle the heat as she flips through a rack of clothes in bright yellows, soft corals, and scorching reds created by First Nations designers. Taylor is more tentative, on the set of a fashion shoot for the first time ever.
Elaine gently encourages 25-yearold Taylor while jokingteam. She has a maternal aura and the sort of disarming beauty that would compel a talent scout to approach her in the street and say: “You could be a model.”
