Myer Mural Hall

If you're a Melburnian, Myer is sure to have a place in your memories. Even though I only rarely shop there now, I was excited to hear that the recently reopened Mural Hall was on the program for Melbourne Open House on the weekend. I don't think I ever went there as a child, but I'm sure my grandma would have been there once or twice for fancy events.
Amazingly, there were no queues to get in to the hall - we just walked in to join the other 50 or so people wandering around peeking out from behind corners like this.

No, not really. It was more like they were wandering around with their mouths open in awe. Here's why.


Stunning, yes? The hall was opened in 1934 and I think was used for functions and then later as a cafeteria until maybe about 10 years ago when it was closed for refurbishing. I think you'll agree they did a good job!

There are 10 murals by Napier Waller depicting women based on various themes, such as drama, literature and history.


This one is "fashion through the ages". Love the red dress!


I think my favourite one is "sport" - this lady makes badminton look so elegant!


And if I got to look this cool while playing golf, I'd give it a shot.


Although I think I'll stick with our modern bikinis for swimming...


The room itself is Art Deco, so is absolutely gorgeous. Imagine making a grand entrance on this staircase.


There are mirrors all around the room that highlight its curves and flowing architecture...


... and of course you can also take your photo in them and get the whole room in the background.

The Mural Hall is probably only going to be open for fancy functions, such as high teas once a month (they cost $70!!) so I'm glad we got to see it for free. However, if you're on the sixth floor of Myer shopping for TVs or gadgets, you can still see this.



It's not a good shot thanks to the reflection but it's an old section of the cash tube system that was used at Myer pre-electronic cash registers.
Here's a picture of how it used to look - notice the pipes curving up on the side of the cash register?

I took a photo of the explanation of how this pneumatic system works - hope you can read it? I had a giggle thinking of Mr Lampson's first attempts at a transfer system involving throwing cash wrapped in handkerchiefs around the shop... slight OHS issue? What if you're crap at throwing and catching like myself?? Potential for a LOT of humour but a LOT of injuries too...

I was trying to explain to the Japanese friend who I went with how the system worked, thinking that in modern, futuristic Japan this sort of thing would have been long gone, but she said "Do you mean like what they have in love hotels?" Apparently (until recently? even now) they use/d this system instead of credit cards as it allows greater discretion and anonymity!

We went to a lot of other places for Open House but I won't bore you with those details, save to say that we saw police horses nudging giant beach balls around an arena, a concrete dome that was once a gym for visiting sailors, cheesy pics of previous Moomba monarchs, and row upon row of card catalogues in catacombs where two finches labelled by Charles Darwin were found.
But perhaps the most impressive sight of all was this rainbow over Flinders Street Station as I was heading home!

The Golden Age - Vintage made to measure

Continuing with my posts about creative ladies, today's effort is brought to you by Karlee Slater, seamstress extraordinaire and owner of The Golden Age.

Doesn't she just look like the hostess with the mostest?

Karlee has a studio in the GPO building where she designs and makes vintage style garments for all sorts of girls. Here are some of her dresses lined up and ready to go for some lucky customers...


...and a box full of vintage patterns that she uses when creating her designs...


...along with all these toiles!

The rest of these pics are just shots from Karlee's studio, which is full of vintage loveliness. If you'd like to find out more about her and her work, head to Karlee's blog here.

The Treasury - exploring the Nicholas Building

Any Melburnian who hasn't been sleeping under a rock for the past few weeks would know that the State of Design festival is on at the moment. There's heaps on, and I'm very excited about Melbourne Open House which is this weekend (I went last year too!).



Something that isn't on the program but is an iconic building none the less is the Nicholas Building (they are running an open studio event tomorrow and Friday though!). I think it's the only building in Melbourne (in Australia??) which still has a lift attendant, and she's made the lift her own, with a little heater and fake flowers and photos of her grandkids and pets and all sorts of things stuck all over the walls. Unfortunately the day I went recently, that lift was not operating so I couldn't get a shot, but I have lots of other photos for you instead! The reason I was there was for The Treasury, which is a workshop run by jeweller Emma Grace.
This is Emma's studio, which she shares with some other creative types.

Here's Eva Dawn's space:





Cool neckpiece by Tai Snaith...


Target Practice by Jessica Singh


LaLaLand Wrapping Paper by Jessica Singh


Drawn from fashion sketch by Jessica Singh



Random section of the studio, as are the first two shots...


And here are the ladies at The Treasury workshop, eagerly drinking in Emma's advice on how to repair and remake their old jewellery.


This is a "before" shot of the things I made - the "after" shots are here.


Emma runs the workshops regularly, so if you have an old treasured piece that needs mending, or you want to whip up something new from something old, check her out! The next Treasury workshop is on as part of Craft Cubed with guest designer Anna Davern and Dylan Martorell, info here.

Reasons to be cheerful

Just a quick wrap up of what's made me smile this week.



Vintage earrings for a few dollars each, from Oakleigh Market last Sunday. I only found out about the market very recently from a fashionista who knows all sorts of style secrets. She didn't tell me about the DELICIOUS deep fried Greek donuts at the market, but I managed to find them myself :)



Material that looks hand painted, also from the Oakleigh Market. I couldn't decide if it was ridiculously over the top, but then I remembered how much I love stuff that's ridiculously over the top. It reminds me of the Prada collection a few seasons ago and the Mexican story I posted about recently. I can't wait to stitch it up into something for summer.



Woven straw clutch that I found at the Salvos in Forest Hill, $4. So colourful!



And last, but not least, this little guy, who came to me all the way from the offices of Peppermint as a sort of commemorative gift after a successful Trivia for Tigers night. And no, they don't send everyone something like this after they run a fund-raiser, but I'm one of their main writers, so they made an exception!


I was very happy to receive the package with this sweetie in it because I'd seen him at the Oxfam shop but resisted the urge to bring him home with me. Isn't it lucky he managed to find me anyway!
And now, tell me, what new discoveries have made you smile lately?

Irony

(pic from here)

On Tuesday night I went to see the finale of Project Runway Australia being filmed. You know, glamorous fashion, celebrities, designers, champagne, that sort of thing. Does anyone else think it's kind of ironic that in the same week, my post about pre-patching my socks and stockings has gone up on The Clothing Exchange blog??

Margherita Missoni loves Hmong haute couture

Hands up who loves checking out Tommy Ton's fashion week street snaps as much as I do....

And hands up who loves seeing celebs mixing ethnic dress with designer threads?

Being a member of one of Italy's foremost design dynasties, Margherita Missoni is known for her fashion sense and could afford to wear just about anything, which is why I love that she's wearing this jacket which I am just about 100% sure is Hmong, or at least from a south-east Asian Hill Tribe.

Just like the couture that's on the much-anticipated catwalks of Paris, a crazy amount of work goes into the traditional garments of all the different Hill Tribe people. If this jacket were produced in the old-fashioned way, the lady who made it would have grown, harvested and woven the cotton, spun it into thread, woven it into material, drawn intricate batik designs onto it with wax or tree resin, dyed it with indigo (which is made from fermented indigo plants and which also would have been made in the village), removed the wax and excess dye, embroidered designs over the top, pleated it and then finally made it into a garment. Now if that doesn't deserve attention during the haute couture collections, I don't know what does.

Of course these days the Hill Tribe people sell machine-made garments in markets, such as this skirt which I remade and showed you back in February... but even so, there's still a fair bit of handiwork involved in it. Anyway, I'm just glad that ethnic dress is getting a bit of attention from an internationally recognised fashionista, as you know how much I love it (new readers - just go back through a few posts and you'll see what I mean!)

(Sorry about the spacing in this post, I can't seem to fix all that white space no matter how many times I edit!!)