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Emporium Limited is fast becoming to Melbourne what Paris is to the world— the centre for authentic fashion.” The following year Myer expanded into South Australia, purchasing another trusted department store, James Marshall, and the Myer Emporium (South Australia) came into being under the able leadership of Sidney Myer’s nephew Norman Myer—another man with a great eye for style who clearly understood what fashionable Australian women wanted. Meanwhile, with Australia in the depths of the Great Depression, Myer inaugurated “Made in Australia Week”, giving preference to Australian-made goods to stimulate spending and employment. Despite the ravages of economic depression and the death of Sidney Myer in 1934, Myer continued to flourish. New fashions were featured in lavish parades in the newly completed Myer Mural Hall, which would quickly become the elegant venue for fashion parades showing collections from designers throughout the world.
Myer’s range of international designs, first introduced in the 1920s, was increasingly featured in the most popular women’s magazines. By 1933, Myer, always ahead of the time, had become conscious of a new market and offered a separate range for “the younger set” and opened a Misses Shop on the fourth floor of the Bourke Street store. The outbreak of World War II changed to some degree the extent of Myer’s fashion offering. However, Myer continued to offer the latest fashions and held stunning fashion parades throughout this time. In 1947, Christian Dior was the name on everyone’s lips and he stunned all with his first collection, the “Corolle” line. Dubbed the “New Look”, Dior featured tiny, high waists, voluminously full skirts and prominent bust-lines that would change the direction of fashion completely. Dior held his first Australian fashion parade during this time. One of the most significant innovations of the post-war period saw
ABOVE Models at the launch of the Myer Lounge during Rosemont Australian Fashion Week in 2007.
Myer: Celebrating 100 years of fashion
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