Retro – spect Melbourne 🐨

What can I say…. hello Melbourne, I’ve missed you and didn’t even realise it!

I lived here for three years on a sponsorship for my veterinary work. I came home in 2013 and have not been back until now.

I am reminiscing and showing Richard as much as I can. I was so happy here because I made the best friends ever! From not knowing anybody when I arrived, to having a massive crew of friends by the end #squad ! They are the best! We did so much together… weekends in beach houses, weekends on houseboats, festivals, house parties, travelling, skiing and endless games of kings cup ! I hope to see them a few times while I’m here 😀

On the first day here we mooched around St.Kilda, an inner suburb on the beach which oozes a unique artist culture. It hosts Luna park, an old theme park and many cool cafes, shops and bars.

Next, we headed up Chapel street, near South Yarra where I used to live. I’d spend weekends here browsing through the numerous op shops and drinking tea!

We made a stop at Bazaar. It is an antique institution, containing numerous stalls of vintage fashion and retro home furnishings. Of course I bought something, some vintage dungarees. Richard did too, some retro sunglasses.
We clocked over 20km of walking on the first day. Not bad given the jet lag!

At dusk, we went back to the St. kilda pier as I was surprised to learn it is home to a colony of penguins. We saw one little nervous penguin!

Today, we walked the botanical gardens and I also got to visit my old favourite vintage store in the city, Retro star. It has everything you can think of, from every era too. The 60s dresses are so cute. I bought a yellow sundress.

I think the UK has the best high street fashion shops from any where else I’ve visited. Topshop and Zara have put stores here in Melbourne over the last few years, but I didn’t know where to shop for fashion when I first lived here. That was until I got to know the place and found the hipster and vintage stores, of which they have many, you just need to search. There are a lot of cool, fashion conscious people in this city.

I found this Article in Vogue which made me laugh. It’s about the Melbourne suburb fashion stereotypes.

South Yarra is apparently normcore, with a touch of preppy.

St. Kilda on the other hand is California meets Melbourne. I like that. It’s mainly cool dresses teamed with ankle boots and sea salt hair or crochet bikinis with denim cutoffs.

Next up is Brighton, being all stripes and loafers.

The Brunswick girls are always in vintage. Levi’s and John Lennon Esque sunglasses relay a pseudo-grunge look.

Toorak is full of OTT glamour, all about labels. Expensive to maintain.

And finally, Albert park brings a fitness fanatic in Nike trainers and leggings.

I had to leave you with the best brunch ever… see above. It made the prettiest picture but I promise it tasted amazing too! It was at SMAK in South Yarra and it was superb!