Micky in the Van
(est. 2012, Melbourne)

Micky in the Van is a womenswear label defined by storytelling: it merges poetry and romance with an urban edge. Creator Estelle Michaelides’s exuberant design aesthetic encompasses street style, evening wear, sportswear, knits and accessories. Michaelides often designs and prints her own fabrics in Melbourne – which begin as watercolour paintings, drawings and digital collages – and manufactures all garments locally.

For Melbourne Now, Micky in the Van presents a tracksuit and top from the autumn-winter 2022 collection, Silver White Winters That Melt Into Springs, and an additional dress. Michaelides’s limited-edition seasonal collections feature dramatic looks that result from the interplay of clashing pattern, graduated prints and volume. She believes that fashion is an art form that can draw the viewer or wearer in and take them on an emotional journey. Like all her work, Silver White Winters That Melt Into Springs is grounded in storytelling and inspired by personal experiences, notions of wisdom and strength, whimsical dreams and imagined futures. Michaelides’s diverse influences guide her design process, steering her choice of colours and shapes.

Michaelides holds a Bachelor of Fashion Design from RMIT University with a major in fashion illustration; after graduation, she studied freelance journalism and millinery. After moving to London, she worked with milliner Katherine Franklin Adams and couture label Voyage, before returning to Australia and producing millinery for George Gross and Harry Who. Michaelides opened her own boutique, The Estelle Store, in 2008, where she promoted the work of local designers, before launching her own label in 2012. Micky in the Van has appeared at the Melbourne Museum and Melbourne Fashion Week, and launched a knitwear range in 2020, all of which is manufactured with local mill Coogi, using Australian-sourced merino wool. The label retails online and via studio appointments.