Fashion designer Elvie Hill in her Flinders Lane workroom in 1996.
To kick off the creative process for the TV series on March 14,the producers will host afree online panel discussion featuring Ms Rosenthal,historian Tom McEvoy and retired retailer Katherine Pakula.
Members of the public can ask questions and contribute memories.
The event,called Frocks,Fashion and Flinders Lane,will also include a fashion show with a live model of garments created in the iconic lane.
On March 23 there will be free online Q&A session about developing the new television series. Both events are funded by a City of Melbourne grant.
Thriving business:Flinders Lane’s rag trade district in 1965.Credit:Fairfax archive.
Ms Eckersley said the series would celebrate multiculturalism and Flinders Lane’s influential role in the growth of the Australian fashion industry,but also show “the glamour and beauty” of the era.
Katherine Pakula,73,would visit her dad,Czech Jewish immigrant Joe Erban,when he worked in the area during the 1950s and 1960s,first for Ada of California swimwear factory in Flinders Street and later for Lux Lang and Co fabric importers in Flinders Lane.
Ms Pakula said “everyone knew everyone” and when she was a child,her father bought her clothes cheaply from lane wholesalers.
Deals would be done on the street as well as inside,and the lane would be packed with delivery trucks and vans,as racks of clothes were wheeled by.
Fun to look back:retired retailer Katherine Pakula has ties to Flinders Lane’s rag trade past.Credit:Justin McManus
In the 1980s and 1990s,Ms Pakula would order stock for her own fashion shops at the lane.
But parking restrictions later made it impossible for her to do business there. Most companies either moved to the suburbs to expand or were wiped out by cheap imports.
Ms Pakula said a TV series would be a fun look back to a hopeful time.
“There was full employment,people could aspire to be anything they wanted to be. All you had to do was work,and you could get there,” she said.
Start your day informed
Our Morning Edition newsletter is a curated guide to the most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights. Sign up here.