Open your eyes, love!

Dear hearts, today’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’ is a guest post by the fab Aussie lawyer turned London-dwelling photographer, Vanessa Jackman. You can check out Vanessa’s snaps from the streets of London, New York, Paris and other fashion hot stops on her eponymous blog, vanessajackman.blogspot.com.

What: Vintage advertising poster for the French Favor bicycle and motorcycle company.

Who: Pierre Bellenger, artist.

Where: Original vintage poster store Galerie Montmartre. 197b Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia. T: +61 3 9486 8686. W: galeriemontmartre.com.

Why: I adore quirky, original French vintage posters, and this one caught my eye as soon as I walked in the door. I love the colours, the movement of the girl’s hair as she rides the motorcycle, and the way she is applying her lipstick! Probably not the ideal thing to do while cruising about on a bike, but it makes for a super cute poster.

How much: Price on application, although I’m so disappointed it’s already been sold. Hopefully, they’ll source another one on their next buying trip and someone will buy it for me as a gift.

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich man, Poor man..."

When it comes to fashion retail, Melbourne, with its warren of tiny city laneways hiding all manner of cool boutiques, seemingly has it all over its brash northern sister, Sydney. A flick through the brand new edition of our LUXE Melbourne guide reveals that it’s not just women who are spoilt for choice however, blokes get a major look-in too. Here then, are three unique, specialist men’s wear stores featured in the guide that’ll have dandies and regular Andys standing out from the galahs.

Read more…

Let there be light

Rose gold, silver and sapphires, oh my! You can never be too cool for a bit of bling, we say, and Melbourne’s hipsters are falling head over Acne heels for Pieces of Eight, a stunning avant-garde gallery-cum-contempo jewellery boutique that’s opened in one of the city’s fabulous laneways.

Read more…