Will fight over $23m estate of fashion great Perri Cutten

A legal fight has erupted over the $23 million estate of legendary Australian fashion designer Perri Cutten.

The long-time partner of the celebrated designer, photographer John Helton Daniell, has launched action in the Supreme Court of Victoria claiming he was not adequately provided for in Cutten’s will.

The 73-year-old died in Melbourne in April last year after a long battle with cancer.

Daniell issued proceedings on February 20 against the estate’s executors, Cutten’s adviser Paul Cameron Ashworth and friend Michael John Gannon.

The documents, released by the court, say Daniell was Cutten’s “long-term domestic partner” and is asking the court to amend the carve-up of her estate.

“The plaintiff claims that adequate and proper provision has not been made by the deceased in the will for his proper maintenance and support,” the originating motion states.

Daniell does not specify an amount, instead asking for support in whatever quantity the “court thinks fit”.

Cutten’s will reveals she died leaving an estate valued at more than $23 million, made up of assets including two properties, investments, superannuation and artworks and jewellery with an estimated value of $1.1 million.

Daniell, her partner of more than 30 years, is described as her spouse, in the lengthy document which was made in 2018.

It sets out a complicated list of trusts which would be used, upon her death, to distribute the bulk of her estate.

As well as Daniell, Cutten provided for her daughters, Katherine and Gabrielle, stepchildren Lily and Coco and her brother, Bill, and sister, Sue, as well as wider family members.

Each group is listed as beneficiaries of the “sub trusts”, with the will providing a scale of the cash gifts to be given to them, under direction of the trustees, depending on the year Cutten died. It shows her daughters receiving $1.9 million each, Daniell $2 million, each of his children $1.7 million as well as smaller sums for her siblings in 2025.

Cutten’s will allows for Daniell to continue living in a central city apartment, listed as her primary residence and valued at $3.3 million, while her sister can live in an expansive home on the Mornington Peninsula, valued at $1.1 million.

Cutten’s artwork and jewellery collection is listed to be divided between Daniell and her two daughters.

Gannon, a property developer and Cutten’s former business partner, and Ashworth are being represented by Sladen Legal who declined to comment on their behalf.

William Murray Solicitors, representing Daniell, also declined to comment.

Cutten created an important legacy within the Australian fashion industry by identifying a new generation of women moving into corporate circles at the dawn of the 1980s and filling a void in their wardrobes.

Having worked for brands like Geoff Bade and Thomas Wardle, Cutten, who studied graphic design at Swinburne University, started her namesake women’s clothing company in Melbourne in 1981.

She built her business around classic designs that were practical and stylish for women wanting to look good while on the go in the workforce.

“Good fabrics, good taste and always flattering” was how Cutten described her design ethos to The Age in a 2011 profile.

“Women had just become part of the workforce in a much bigger way than they’d been,” she said.

“They’d been mostly nurses and teachers, but now they were going into corporate jobs.

“So that’s what we did; designs that would help [women] fit in and feel feminine but not look silly.”

She stepped back from her role as creative director of the brand in the early 2000s and in her semi-retirement drew great joy from curating her expansive garden at her rural retreat.

“I’m a weeder now,” she said in the same interview.

In 2021, her company was bought by the Austin Group, which also owns the brands, Cable and Gazman. Under its new owners, the Perri Cutten brand has continued to flourish and evolve, and remains a favourite with corporate women.

During her time as one of the shining lights of Australian womenswear, Cutten won four awards from the Fashion Industries of Australia as well as a Woolmark Award for Excellence.

In 1998, she received an honorary doctorate from Swinburne University.

Following her death last year, the Austin Group paid tribute to Cutten, describing her as “an iconic figure ... whose name has become synonymous with timeless elegance and sophistication”.

“Her contribution to the fashion industry was not only visionary but also deeply personal,” the company said in a statement.

“She understood the modern Australian woman and designed with purpose, integrity, and grace.”

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