Margie Woods is a fashion designer best known for her label, Viktoria & Woods. Here, the 50-year-old talks about her relationship with her father, her fond memories of her maths teacher, and finding love again after divorce. Margie Woods: “It took a while before I was ready to date again, but I fell into it relatively easily, which surprised me.
” Credit: Peter Rae My maternal grandfather, Massie, was a teacher before he migrated to Australia in 1967 and spent his working life at Ford Motors in Melbourne. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a child while my parents worked long hours, and got to know him well. He was a quiet, reserved man who enjoyed reading.
He did this weird thing where he’d put a Teddy Bear biscuit in my bowl of cereal at breakfast as a surprise. He passed away when I was 16. My dad, George, is one of seven children.
He migrated to Australia at 20 in search of a better life and new opportunities. Nobody from his family came with him and I didn’t really know that side of the family. He met and married my mum, Mona, when he was 31 – they met through Mum’s brother.
Dad is 10 years older than her. I had a strange relationship with my dad. I’m the eldest of four girls and was treated differently to my sisters, probably because I was a bit of a ratbag who’d sneak out of the house.
Dad worked a lot of night shifts in factories, then owned businesses and worked seven days a week. As I became a teenager, Dad’s personality really came out. .