Melbourne's Fashionable History
Couturiers, everyday rags, and everything in between
From main street icons
Synonymous with style, the top end of Collins Street has always been The Paris End. Home to Melbourne’s most prestigious department store, Georges, was “an arbiter of fashion by specialising in selling imported couturier garments and quality locally-made copies. There was a sense of glamour about Georges that was unmatched by Melbourne’s other department stores and which was further promoted by its in-house parades and splendid window-displays of the latest fashions.”
Susan van Wyk, The Paris End
To hidden laneway gems
Melbourne was home to much of Australia’s clothing manufacturing during the 20th century, with one laneway in particular brimming with factories, workshops, showrooms, and haberdashers. Now bustling with restaurants and clubs, Flinders Lane was a “community of fashion people nurtured over four generations” … “a place your parents took you for discount shopping in the 1950s before the age of factory clothing outlets…”
Lesley Sharon Rosenthal, Schmattes
See Designer Dresses →
Jack Shaw, GIA President
“I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things. No design works unless it embodies ideas that are held common by the people for whom the object is intended. Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design. Leave it better than you found it.”
Jack Shaw, Leroy
GIA President