Fanantique, Melbourne

Just before I left for Singapore(as in, the very day before) Mother Melbourne and I ventured down to Bay St in Brighton as we had been invited by Elizabeth of Fanatique Boutique to join her for a glass of champagne and a look around her shop.

The shop in a nutshell, is about living a vintage lifestyle. So while some products are vintage, the brands and decor Elizabeth sources are new but  inspired by times gone by. It means that you get nice new shiny things with a lovely old feeling. Old Vogue prints, vintage dresses from the USA, MOR body products, notebooks and the best selection of fashion books I have ever seen in a lifestyle shop adorn the shelves, not to mention the magnificent chandelier in the window.

As we were leaving Elizabeth handed over these lovely gift bags and I was absolutely captivated by the manuscript decoration on the bag. She told me that for a while she had thought of stocking wall paper and that it was a sample from a single role she had of an old fashioned manuscript.

I was enthralled- having studied piano from the age of four to nineteen my eye is often drawn towards musical influences in illustration and decoration. The wall paper is for sale for a bargain $20 per meter, and Elizabeth  blew me away when she threw in a meter that I could use as a print. Clearly it hasn’t made it to the framer like I intended, it went straight up on the wall as soon as I got home.