Megan Park

Colour Play: main picture above, designer MEGAN PARK wearing her own designs at home in Melbourne; Double Act: below, the designer's eight-year-old twins, Marley and Ella.

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Megan Park

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megan park , annette o'brien , profile , style at home

  1. Melbourne-based designer and mother of twins, Megan Park, shares the inspirations behind her eponymous label, her work-life balance and thoughts on raising kids with creativity 

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  3. Photographs by Annette O'Brien  |  Makeup: Meg Guthrie
  4. Interview Natasha Inchley
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  6. WHAT IGNITED YOUR LOVE OF FASHION AND DESIGN? I grew up surrounded by buttons and trims, my mother ran a fabric store in a small country town. She has a great sense of style and dressed me from an early age in her creations. At 10, I was given my first sewing machine and began stitching dolls clothes to sell at the church fete – despite that fact that I was never part of the congregation.
  1. CREATIVELY, ONE THEME YOU KEEP RETURNING TO IS ... Antique clothing and textiles and all things handworked; I can’t escape it. Minimisation comes through in our silhouttes but the actual textiles take up enormous energy. I love to patchwork and combine different prints and embroideries, and  I will always love a flower.
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  3. YOU HAVE SUCH A WONDERFUL ARTFUL AESTHETIC. CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR DESIGN PROCESS: I absorb what is going on around me in fashion but I am also fortunate to travel and be immersed in the creative and colourful world of India. I trawl through my archives of antique textiles at the beginning of each collection and sometimes find inspiration from a delicate embroider sample that I might have collected 10 years ago. Such treasures are eternally beautiful and inspiring for me.
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  5. CAN YOU SHARE YOUR TIPS FOR STRIKING A WORK-LIFE BALANCE? I am the mother who is perpetually striving to achieve a better work-life balance! I feel guilty for not spending enough time with my children but luckily I have a very supportive and involved husband, Anthony, who picks up the slack. I always hope that a mother who is happy when she is with her children, is much healthier than one who is present yet not so content. My work is so much of who I am and what I love, and I hope that my kids are better off for that. Having said that, I do envy my friends who put in the hours at school helping out in the library or the artroom, it is difficult to do it all. I make a point of always doing the school drop-off and being home in time for dinner, and also reading or down-time before bed. It is a juggle and one I am forever trying to perfect.
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  1. AND YOUR STYLE AT HOME, CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW YOUR AESTHETIC CARRIES OVER: Anthony is an architect and so he has designed the space and I get more involved when it comes to adding furnishings and all the things that we have collected. Many of the pieces in our home remind me of trips abroad and holiday memories – the light that hangs in our bedroom is from Porte de Clignancourt in Paris, the quilt on our bed is from India and the rug from Morocco.
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  3. HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE YOUR TWINS TO BE CREATIVE AND HAVE AN APPRECIATION OF THE ARTS? Both Ella and Marley are very creative. They delay bedtime proclaiming they need to finish whatever it is they are busily working on. I have the feeling they will pursue artistic endeavours rather than academia but I try not to pigeonhole them at this early age when the world is their oyster. They are happy explorers of my workplace; both of them love the bead cupboard which they constantly ransack. 
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 "It is funny, given that I spend so much time in India each year, most people expect more colour and texture in our home yet we like it a little more pared back and clean."
  1. CAN YOU SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE SUNDAY ROUTINE WITH THE FAMILY: We go out for breakfast and then normally make it a day for the kids, which means hitting the rollerblades and tearing up the streets of the neighbourhood, with us in tow. On Sunday we also love to catch up with friends and have lazy afternoon teas which inevitably turn into early kids' dinners with wine and delicious food.
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  3. AND LASTLY, WHAT IS YOUR ULTIMATE INDULGENCE – HOW DO YOU PAMPER YOURSELF AT THE END OF A BUSY WEEK ON THE GO? I love nothing more than a massage but sadly do not get much time for pampering these days. I catch up on it all when I am in India and child-free. A great Ayurvedic massage or a relaxing Shirodhara oil treatment is my idea of heavenly indulgence. 
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Shop the look(4 items)

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Crepe top

Megan Park — $449

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Bead earrings

Megan Park — $129

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Poplin dress

Megan Park — $349

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55d51750dc897

Raffia Clutch

Megan Park — $259

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