The double life of Olivia Newton-John
CURLED UP on a sofa in a casual pair of white stretch pants and an oversized, pale pink shirt, Olivia Newton-John suddenly remembers something she forgot to do. Not a scheduled concert date or movie premiere as one might expect from the famous Australian entertainer, but a crucial instruction for an employee at Koala Blue, her boutique featured at the Australian Fortnight promotion, which ends Sunday. “Milkshakes,” she says, making a mental note. “Don’t make them too thick.” Australian milkshakes, she explains, are much thinner concoctions than their American counterparts and she wants to ensure customers get the real thing. “I like to drink my drinks, not eat them,” she says of her preference for the Australian version.
Filling her craving for Australian milkshakes was one of Newton-John’s primary purposes in opening the first Koala Blue store in Los Angeles four years ago.
“It started out as a place for Aussies to get a milkshake,” Ms. Newton-John says. Today Koala Blue has turned into a combination milk bar and apparel boutique in partnership with long time friend Pat Farrar.
“The big surprise is the interest the name has created,” says Ms. Farrar, who also visited Dallas to attend Fortnight. “Koala” stands for “Korner of Australia in Los Angeles”; while “blue” means “friend” in Australia.
The store originally specialized not only in Australian delicacies such as milkshakes, vegemite (Australian peanut butter) sandwiches and pavlovas meringue filled with fruit and whip cream), but also the wares of Australian designers such as Stuart Membery, Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson. Today Koala Blue also offers private-label clothes, such as those Ms. Newton-John was wearing, which she describes as comfortable, casual and fun.
Though the store manager often selects merchandise for Koala Blue, both Ms. Newton-John and Ms. Farrar also seek out new items on their trips home.
For Ms. Newton-John who lives in Los Angeles, that occasionally means combining show business and retailing. During a recent trip home, she sang at a major football game, the equivalent of the American Superbowl. Though she still sings, Ms. Newton-John also has an infant daughter and says she is cutting back on her show business career.
She likes retailing because “I can still use my creativity,” she says. She and Ms. Farrar hope the store will grow into a large chain, and Ms. Newton-John insists Koala Blue is not simply a hobby or creative outlet.
“Do you think I’d be here if I weren’t taking it seriously?” she asks. There is one area Ms. Newton-John leaves to Ms. Farrar however, that of day-to-day management. Though Ms. Farrar visits the store daily, Ms. Newton-John appears only infrequently. “I pop into the shop,” she says, but “I don’t stay long because it creates a distraction.”