Oyster #98: Emma Mulholland's First Album

"I was pretty obsessed with the Spice Girls. Spice is definitely the first album I can remember getting. Mum made me save for it and everything ... I got pretty obsessed, maybe because I thought I looked a bit like Baby Spice — I had really white-blonde hair.

At school, four of my friends and I would be the Spice Girls. I was Baby Spice — this was in Ulladulla, which is a beachy town with one CD store — and I was trying to convince my mum that I needed those platform Skechers to use as joggers. My mum's a PE teacher and she was like, 'They’re not joggers!'

I went through a few different stages growing up. When I was trying to remember my first album I wanted to say The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (I was obsessed with Sister Act 2), but then when I checked with mum she said it was definitely Spice Girls. After them it was the Fugees, TLC; that kind of thing. I always loved hip hop and girl bands.

I tried to go against pretty much anything my sister did. I think she was into R. Kelly at one point and so I was trying to be really indie, listening to The Strokes, trying to be cooler than her, and now I totally listen to R. Kelly. I think she used to like Nelly, which I thought was really lame, but now I think it’s good. So, my tastes have changed!"

— Emma Mulholland is an Australian designer known for her hypercolour soda-pop clothes. Kanye West is a big fan.

Emily Royal