A Glomesh Accessory
“Good taste and Glomesh go hand in hand” – David Jones Advertisement, The Canberra Times, (1970 8 Oct.), p. 19
I have this lovely little Glomesh purse that was either my mother’s or my grandmother’s. I was given it when I was quite young and have always loved the little white enamel squares and the feel of the mesh.
The first Glomesh factory producing fine mesh purses and handbags, opened in Bondi in 1958 by two Hungarian immigrants to Australia; Alice and Louis Kennedy. Their products quickly became a fashionable accessory. But Glomesh also produced wallets, belts, tops, cigarette cases, and compact mirrors. I’ve even seen an Australian newspaper article discussing Glomesh bras!
The Australian Women’s weekly in the 1980’s ran several double spread advertisements for these products. These adverts pictured a female star with a Glomesh bag, clutch or purse, with a picture of its contents artistically spilled out (Page 1, Page 2). One carried the tagline: “You can tell a lot about Jackie Weaver from Jacki Weaver’s Glomesh bag.” I don’t think you could actually fit all of the things pictured inside Jacki Weaver’s bag – not all at once at least!
The company dropped out of existence in the late 80’s after its sale. In 2014 however, the grandson of the original founders revived the company: Glomesh is back in business and in fashion.
