She quit pop music in her 20s. Now Michael Gudinski’s daughter is building her own fashion empire

I find Kate Gudinski in South Melbourne, wearing double denim, sneakers and a silver dragonfly brooch, her wispy platinum-blonde hair neatly coiffed. The daughter of late music industry mogul Michael Gudinski – who died unexpectedly in 2021 – was famously on her own pop music career path back in the 2000s, recording three albums (one a TV soundtrack) as Kate Alexa between 2006 and 2012. She even toured with Jesse McCartney and the Backstreet Boys before leaving her chart-climbing ambitions firmly behind in her 20s.Now 38, she’s pivoted into the world of style, and we meet inside a red-brick corner warehouse conversion where she runs fashion and accessories brand UBU with her business partner and friend Sally Dobell. UBU, which launched in 2025, operated first as an online store, before trying a bricks-and-mortar pop-up model in bayside Albert Park this year – a stone’s throw from where her father ran Mushroom Records in the 1980s after co-founding the label in 1972. The pop-up proved a huge success, giving both women a kind of unspoken confidence to keep doing what they’re doing.“Sally and I met at our children’s kindergarten in 2022,” says Gudinski. “My daughter Lulu is best friends with her daughter, and they’re still besties to this day.” It began as a kinder pick-up chat, then a few coffee pit stops and finally a more fleshed-out conversation over drinks one New Year’s Eve – then quickly turned into a business plan they both wanted to pursue.Kate Gudinski (at right) with business partner Sally Dobell. “This is a new creative journey for me with UBU that’s really resonating, and it’s a first in terms of starting a business with a friend,” Gudinski says.“It all started with a very easy and natural conversation, asking the question, ‘What if we launched a kids’ brand?’ ” she says. “We both felt we could never find good-quality hats that were stylish, or ones that our kids would actually want to wear.” Soon after they launched, the pair saw other mothers and friends wearing the hats as well, and pivoted the brand “to appeal across generations” while keeping a playful approach. For Gudinski, the label’s ethos embraces self-expression and riffs on counter-culture; for example, turning ordinary shades of oatmeal into Coachella-ready accessories of faux fur, velvet and denim.Fashion, celebrity and style are, of course, hardly strangers to Gudinski. Every major rock star her father helped tour over his many decades in the industry seemed to swing by their family home in Toorak for a meal, drink or both. But for someone with that kind of exposure to fame, Gudinski is more intentionally private than one might imagine.Her brother, Matt Gudinski, took over the CEO role at Mushroom in 2021, having worked there since he was 17, while Kate raised her young family and immersed herself in accessories – bucket hats and bag charms initially dictating her mood board. Today, her life is less about backstage green rooms and more about trips to China to sample swatches and visit manufacturing sites.“Everything that I’ve done in the past has been in a creative field,” explains Gudinski, who graduated from Melbourne Girls Grammar in 2005 and did a short course at the Victorian College of the Arts before starting her music career. “I have always been around music, recorded music and tried a career at it, but this is a new creative journey for me with UBU that’s really resonating, and it’s a first in terms of starting a business with a friend.”There’s lots to learn, much of it at the micro level. While her dad had the knack for predicting big tours that would sell out stadiums – securing acts such as The Police, Billy Joel and Elton John – his daughter has spent more than 10 months, for instance, working with Dobell to make sure a single bucket hat sample is absolutely perfect.A mother of three children, the eldest aged 10, she usually spends some days of her week working in South Melbourne with Dobell, and also has a home office in the inner south-east of the city. On the day I drop into the store on Bridport Street – Gudinski has already attended her daughter’s cross-country meet that morning – her mother, Sue Gudinski, is visiting with a friend. “She’s a very fashionable lady and had a lot of great ideas, and always had a vision for things,” Kate says. “She’s not involved in our business but loves to hear about it – she’s a regular when we have the pop-ups.”Kate Gudinski with her late father, Michael. “We still talk about Dad daily,” she says.In many ways, UBU is Gudinski’s saving grace; a chance to dive into a world far removed from the music industry. The loss of her father five years ago – he died on her birthday – hasn’t been easy, so waking up to do a job she loves has been a godsend. “I was in so much shock when Dad died,” she says. “At the time, my kids were two-and-a-half and five. I was parenting through grief; grieving is the pits no matter what, but parenting through it was extremely hard for me. I wanted to be present for my own kids and comfort them, but also protect and look after my own mum.”The aftermath was a mix of isolation and connection, blocking out the reality of a world without her father while bunkering down with family. “There were a few weeks there where I really had to be with Mum and Matt – to have that space away from everything,” Gudinski recalls. “We hid in our own little bubble where I felt at ease and safe. We still talk about Dad daily.”Her children ask a lot of questions, which is a blessing and a complication, because she wants to get her answers just right. “They want to know about him, and it’s our way of keeping him alive. But it puts you under pressure to explain a lot because kids want to know everything – like, ‘Why did it happen?’ ” she says. “It was a tricky time and I don’t think it gets any easier with him not being here – we learn to deal with it and manage it, but sometimes it feels heavier and harder than other days.”‘I have always been around music, recorded music and tried a career at it, but this is a new creative journey for me.’Kate GudinskiIn many ways, this latest twist in her creative life is a response to the end of his. “There has been a turning point in it all,” Gudinski says. UBU has helped her feel hope again, offering a chance to plug into something collaborative that also feels meaningful. “Being a mum of three kids is great, but a lot of work,” she says. “I think having that extra thing that’s just for you keeps your brain ticking over, and it’s really important to me as a mum, and in this stage and age of my life.”It also allows her kids to see what hard work looks like, she adds. “To see me do something I am passionate about is essential for them to witness,” she says. “My older two kids, who are seven and 10 – they’ve seen something start from nothing, and what’s involved and come about because of that hard work. Our 10-year-old is busy drawing and wants to start designing too,” she says, smiling.At home, Gudinski has created a haven, surrounded by her children and husband Andrew – a musician turned horticulturalist, who is also expanding their vegie footprint at their property in Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula. She is surrounded by prized possessions, too, which are imbued with meaning. A framed pink guitar from Aretha Franklin. An original Andy Warhol image of Mick Jagger. A bronze statue of her father – a smaller version of one that’s on display outside Rod Laver Arena – stands in the centre of the home, always within sight.Gudinski applies her father’s advice to her business regularly. “One of the things my dad would say that’s always stuck is, ‘You’ve got to be a leader, not a follower.’ That makes more sense now that I have UBU,” she says. “You’ve got to believe in yourself, and you’ve got to back yourself because everyone’s going to have an opinion. They’re not necessarily going to like what you’re doing – as long as you like it, and you believe in it. He would say, ‘You always have to do what you love’ – he told me that time and again.”