All About Ken E…™

Ken E grew up in Melbourne, in a manner that has left him permanently scarred and unable to recall vast portions of his childhood.  Melbourne can do that to people.

He will disclose more about his past as soon as his personal psychological exploration and awareness discovery team have assisted him in recovering the memories and approved their manufacture into consumable morsels.

In the meantime, Ken regrets you must make do with attempting to understanding the honesty and truth that is the grand deception that is the simulacrum that is the image that is Ken.

From a Recent Article About Ken…

"If you're not wearing Ken E…™, stay home!"

That's what they said after Ken E's triumphant debut Paris couture show. Suddenly this Australian enfant terrible was the fashion firmament. Fashion's biggest names saw blood and responded with a style Ken tried to laugh off as "squalor", but Ken's humble resources were no match for the industry's deepest pockets. The war was lost, looking bad was in, and Ken's sequined blood was just another stain on the path of fabulousness.

Following bankruptcy, Ken turned his skills toward music theatre, only to find the glamour had gone out of that as well. He was reduced to cabaret, and first appeared in Pork Chop's production of Night Of The Sea Monkey at Sydney's Old Fitzroy Hotel in 1999.

Emboldened by excellent reviews, Ken immediately began work on his one-man show Baggage. Four years and countless hours of therapy later, it's almost ready. 

In the meantime, Ken is slumming it doing the City of Sydney Cabaret Convention in the Town Hall Cabaret Dungeon. 

"Despite Mr Warhol's suggestion, 12 minutes is till plenty of time for a fame like mine", said Ken.

Ken's First Fashion Statement

Ken recalls a pivotal moment in his childhood, which has never before been revealed due to the sensitivities involved.

It was 1971, and I was following mother to a fitting at her couturier.   I always went with her.  Even at that young age (no, I'm not saying how old I was, but it was young), a visit to a dress shop was the most exciting thing imaginable.

We entered the establishment, much lauded for its frequent adorning of the Prime Minister's wife, and there waiting for a fitting was a long, sleek, white, silk dress. 

I was horrified.  It so plain.  It did nothing.  It had no glamour.

"That dress is wrong, Mummy" I screamed.  Couturier staff recoiled.  Mother tried to shush me, but I would not be silenced.  "That dress is wrong' 

Following my deepest instinct and guided by the very Muses themselves, I crossed the workroom and took up a pair of dressmaker's shears.  They were heavy but felt so right in my tiny boys hands.  I strode up to the white dress and cut a slash from the hem to as high as I could reach.

Pandemonium broke out.  My mother walloped me, and then collapsed.  Staff didn't know what to do, or which way to turn.

Then the door swung open.  Sonia entered.  She took one look at the slashed white frock and the young boy triumphantly wielding a pair of scissors and, true to her glamorous self, declared, "The president will love it".  She regarded me with a knowing eye and asked if I had done this.  I said yes, I had, the dress was wrong, but I fixed it. She smiled a kind smile.

"Thank you Ken, that was a brave thing to do.  I will wear this dress you have magically transformed, for all the world to see."

Then, in a discrete tone, she added:.

"Be careful, Ken.  There are people who will be jealous of a gift such as yours.  We must make your involvement in this special creation our little secret for the time being.  But fear not, Ken.  I predict it won't be long before people will hold your name in a special place in their hearts and minds."

Sonia and I never spoke of the moment again, but I never forgot that special moment when someone of importance took me and my vision for a glamorous world seriously for the first time.

Last Updated 23rd June 2003