Maggie Tabberer's life in pictures: From the fashion world to magazines and TV screens
Australia is mourning an icon.
Maggie Tabberer, one of the most famous faces of the country's fashion, TV and magazine landscapes over several decades, has died aged 87.
Tabberer – a media pioneer and two-time Gold Logie winner lauded as Australia's first supermodel – died this morning, her daughter Amanda sharing the news on Instagram.
"This morning we lost our beautiful mother and Nanna," she wrote.
"She was an icon in every sense of the word and we will miss her dearly… Along with the rest of Australia.
"Rest in peace Nanna. We love you to bits forever."
Let's take a look back at the fabulous life of Maggie T.
Margaret May Tabberer spent much of her life in the spotlight, having been offered her very first modelling role at 14.
Her career in fashion really took off in her early 20s.
Living in Melbourne, she attended modelling school and was mentored by the iconic photographer Helmut Newton, who we have to thank for her famous nickname.
"He renamed me. Helmut Newton coined Maggie and it stuck," Tabberer told the Women's Weekly years later.
She won the Model of the Year award in 1960 and is pictured here months later in January 1961.
Tabberer was the first local model to appear on the cover of Australian Vogue, which had just launched at the time.
Tabberer chose to end her modelling career at age 25.
Adelaide-born Tabberer married for the first time at 17, to Charles Tabberer, then 35.
They welcomed two daughters, Brooke and Amanda, pictured in 1964. The marriage lasted seven years.
Tabberer married for a second time, to Ettore Prossimo, in 1967, after she and her daughters had moved to Sydney.
Later that year they welcomed a son, Francesco, who died from sudden infant death syndrome 10 days after his birth.
Tabberer and Prossimo split after 17 years of marriage.
In 1963, Tabberer began writing a fashion column for the Daily Mirror, continuing her association with the newspaper for 16 years.
Meanwhile, her foray into TV began in the mid-'60s, helping her public profile rise even further.
She became a panellist on the talk show Beauty and The Beast in 1964, and by 1967 she had her own talk show, Maggie.
That same year, she launched her own public relations company, Maggie Tabberer & Associates.
Maggie was a hit and cemented its host as a beloved TV personality.
Taberer won back-to-back Gold Logies in 1970 and 1971.
She's pictured here at the ceremony in 1971.
In the '80s, Tabberer added yet another feather to her cap: clothing label founder.
The media star, pictured in 1984, created Maggie T, a plus-sized label, in 1981.
That same year, she became The Australian Women's Weekly's fashion editor.
Here's Tabberer with another beloved figure of Aussie television, Ray Martin, in December 1984.
Fashion icon, much?
Tabberer – pictured looking rather fabulous here in 1988 with her trademark slicked-back hair – was very much a household name by this point.
Along with her fashion editor role, she regularly appeared on the cover of the Weekly and in its advertising.
Success continued in the '90s.
From 1990, Tabberer hosted The Home Show for five years with Richard Zachariah, who was also her partner off-screen in that time. They split in 1995.
Tabberer is pictured here in 1998, the year she was made a member of the Order of Australia for her services to the fashion industry.
The following year her biography, Maggie, hit stands.
Of course, Tabberer was often seen out and about at society events with her high-profile friends – and often, her daughters.
She's pictured here with Brooke and Amanda at a Myer event in 2005.
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