Born in Ithaca on 27 July 1924, Elly Lukas was considered one of Australia’s most beautiful women, and she was the first Greek migrant to walk the fashion runways across Australia and overseas in the 1950s, modelling exclusive luxury fashion and haute couture creations.
With a mixture of beauty, grace and a strong personality, Lukas made history as an inspirational Greek female figure who contributed tremendously to the lives of many Australian and Greek women, especially within the Melbourne community.
“Elly and her sisters Anthoula and Maria grew up in the village of Stavros in Ithaca and their family owned a hotel and restaurant,” says Andrew Raftopoulos, who together with Rosa McCall (nee Raftopoulos) and Olga Black (Mavrokefalos) were the primary team members and authors of an Elly Lukas project produced and published on behalf of the Ithacan Historical Society (Inc) in conjunction with the Ithacan Philanthropic Society ‘The Ulysses’.
Elly grew up surrounded by a high calibre of people, particularly archaeologists, who visited and stayed at her parents’ hotel.
Under their mother’s guidance the sisters grew up multilingual with the addition of French and English.
After the end of WWII, the family moved to Athens where Elly attended a college run by an order of nuns and studied English and Italian.
Sponsored by her older sister who had already migrated, Elly embarked on a ship to Australia in 1946 but political upheaval in Egypt stalled the vessel in Port Said for three months.
“During that time, the passengers were accommodated at various hotels in Cairo while waiting for another passage. While at the Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo, her natural beauty and grace were noticed by a handsome young man, Alexander Zotos, the hotel’s general manager, who went on to become Elly’s husband.”
According to the Ithacan Philanthropic Society’s archives, Lukas arrived in Australia in 1947 on the immigrant ship SS Misr and married Zotos in 1953.
The couple had two children, Elise and Alex.
During this period, in which opportunities for migrant women to find work were limited, Elly’s elegance and natural beauty prevailed in her favour.
She commenced her career in the fashion industry by showing collections of hats, accessories, and haute couture garments. She featured regularly in the works of leading photographers Athol Shmith, Henry Talbot, and Helmut Newton, and featured on the cover of Woman’s Day and fashion magazines on a regular basis.
While overseas, as part of a Migrant to Australia tour Lukas modelled for Christian Dior in Paris but declined an offer to travel around the world as a Dior model due to her family commitments.
In 1954, Elly and her husband set up the Elly Lukas School of Elegance in Collins Street, Melbourne.
Her natural ability to communicate with people of all ages enabled her to promote the importance of confidence, poise, and manners to hundreds of women who walked through the doors of her institution. Olivia Newton-John was among the personalities known to have enrolled in the school that served generations of women, who were taught that the key to true beauty comes down to one significant quality: confidence.
“The Ithacan community admired Elly’s confident poise and elegance, which was projected effortlessly and without pretentiousness. It was this innate natural ability, instilled in her by her humble family beginnings, that was never forgotten, despite the heights she reached in her profession and the people with whom she interacted in the echelons of Melbourne’s high society, the world of fashion and the charitable causes she supported, often with the patronage of Melbourne’s elite,” says Raftopoulos.
“Elly was an inspiration to women of all ages. She had the ability to make a person feel special by instilling confidence in them and through generously sharing her knowledge and expertise,” says Kay Raftopoulos who attended the college and practised deportment and etiquette, as did many daughters of Ithacan Greek Australian families.
Elly’s son Alex is now the director of an accredited beauty college that offers beauty therapy, massage, make-up, and spa therapy courses.
Elly Lukas was not only a model, a daughter, a wife, a mother, and a successful businesswoman; she also worked tirelessly to improve the life of her community, through charitable work in various sectors. She was a life governor of the Deaf & Dumb Society, and supported the Spastic Children’s Society, St Paul’s School for the Blind, the Royal Women’s Hospital, and the Royal Children’s Hospital.
She was also actively involved as a member of Melbourne’s Lady Mayoress’ Committee, the Women of Note Committee, and Quota International.
The Raftopoulos’ say during her five decades of work, Lukas raised the standard of the name ‘Greek’ to a higher level, rightfully earning her place in the world of Australian and International fashion, as well as a glorious page in the book of our diaspora history.
Lukas was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 45, and lived with the disease for over 30 years, undergoing radical surgery and radiotherapy. She passed away at St Vincent’s Private Hospital on 4 July 1999, aged 74, surrounded by her loving family.
Thanks to Andrew and Kay Raftopoulos, the Ithacan Historical Society (Inc), the Ithacan Philanthropic Society ‘The Ulysses’, and Rosa McCall (Elly Lukas 1924–1999) for their overall input, photographic material, and historical data contribution to this story.
