Blue Bears Are Bullish
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN’S singing career has taken a back seat to her new career as a high-powered and super-successful businesswoman.
The Australian beauty and her partner, longtime friend Pat Farrar, own and operate Koala Blue, a chain of 31 clothing stores featuring fashions with a Down-Under flair.
They’ve just opened stores in Japan, Las Vegas and Dallas, and soon the doors will open in Paris, Germany and Hong Kong.
“I love being a business-woman”, Olivia declares. “When I was younger, I didn’t have an aptitude for business.”
“Singing was my entire life. But now, as a wife and mother, I realize there is definitely life after rock and roll.”
IN 1984, Olivia, 40, married actor Matt Lattanzi - who is 10 years her junior. They have a three-year-old daughter, Chloe.
“The success I had as a pop singer in the ’70s couldn’t last forever,” says the blond stunner. “The music business is very fickle, but I’m glad to have had my place in the sun.”
“I will always sing and record albums, but Koala Blue is very important to me. Being in business has made me grow as a human being and as a woman.”
“I make my own professional decisions,” Olivia adds, “and I’m not afraid to say what’s on my mind. I’m proud of how far I’ve come, and I’m proud of being Australian. I’m combining my heritage with business. It’s the ideal arrangement.”
Olivia expects to have 100 Koala Blue stores open by 1991 and says annual revenues should jump from a cur-rent $14 million to $35 million a far cry from her modest earnings from the first store, which she opened in Los Angeles in 1983.
In addition to clothing, Olivia and Pat want to introduce a line of Koala Blue perfume, jewelry and handbags. Eventually, they hope to start a chain of shops exclusively for children’s wear.
“I opened the first store with money I earned from the movie Grease,” says Olivia, who spends at least three days a week in her L.A. outlet. “All I wanted then was a good business investment.”
“But the stores have grown so much. Koala Blue has changed my life the better.”
Photo caption: Blond Australian beauty Olivia Newton-John and partner Pat Farrar are all smiles (top) at Koala Blue's downright Down-Under success.</br> Above, everything's rosy as Olivia and Pat pose in one of their Los Angeles stores with a visiting Rose Bowl queen and her court