Arcade Fire - August 4

Somewhere between breakfast and lunch, I decided that Bridge Road was a bad idea. More specifically, somewhere after a vintage store called Retrostar and a boutique called Twisted in Oz, each nestled in a couple of Melbourne’s many nooks and crannies.

I have been to Retrostar once before, a very long time ago, when it was located in a smaller store. It was in our early days as a couple, when I would have been more conscious of leaving him standing on the side of the road with only a cold coffee for company while I did some serious rack-flicking. These days, I just head to Melbourne on my own…

I was happy to stumble across it again. Retrostar is huge. There are the usual suspects: polyester pussy bow shirts, velvet jackets and etched leather satchels. And dresses. Racks and racks of those polyester, elastic-waisted house dresses from the 60s and 70s in so many colours and patterns. You know the ones: there are about a billion reproductions by Temt and Dotti floating around every teenage girl at the moment. I found a fantastic cornflower blue one with a William Morris-esque pattern of daffodils, but decided against it. $25.00, needed a slip and made from the worlds most uncomfortable fabric… Maybe if it was $10.00. I enjoyed flicking through the polyester dream, but the real fun came when I stumbled across the 50’s section filled with brochade and glitter-thread. I settled on a “goal dress” (a term I’m stealing from one of MOSH’s customers) – a mid-blue and white rose patterned frock from the 50’s with a tight boat-necked bodice and a flared skirt. The photo below doesn't do it justice. The thought of it literally made me walk out of Krispy Kreame Donuts empty-handed. $49.00 for a dress that doesn’t (yet) fit is a little pricy, but, as with all of the items in Retrostar, it’s in excellent condition and, well, it’s just really, really pretty.

I also bought a super-cute, double breasted pink pin-striped shirt. It sounds sort of ridiculous, so have a look at the picture below and you’ll see what I mean. It was ½ price down from $45.00. Again, more than I would usually pay for a second hand shirt, but I was on holidays and had leftovers waiting in the hotel room fridge for dinner. That’s not quite as good as the proceeds going to charity, but it does mean what I saved on dinner I could spend on a brand new (to me) second hand shirt. Something like that, anyway.

Harry Wragg was an interesting mix of retro/vintage clothing and new accessories, some of which are made by local designers. Cute, but nothing really made me want to part with my hard-earned. Tell you what, though, if you need a fur or a crazy-printed shirt, Harry's your man!


Retrostar Vintage Clothing
1st Floor Cathedral Arcade
37 Swanston St
Melbourne Vic
Mon-Thu, Sat 10am-6pm
Fri 10am-8pm
Sun 1130am-6pm
03 9663 1223
www.retrostar.com.au


Harry Wragg
Shop 7/8 Cathedral Arcade
37 Swanston St
Melbourne Vic
www.harrywragg.com.au