Cute's the word du jour in the artsy suburb of Fitzroy in Melbourne. While popping in and out of the eclectic shops along Brunswick Street, it seems vintage children's book illustrations are all the rage. With cutesy pictures of kids, horses, kittens, and baby deer adorning everything from pins to notebooks to pendants to tea towels, it's hard not to get wrapped up in an overdose of sweetness, which isn't really a terrible thing!
It's especially evident at Meet Me At Mikes, a Brunswick Street store packed full of handmade goodies like vintage fabric buttons, sweet floral dresses, rings with teapots on them, and make-your-own craft kits-- and this adorable kitten charm necklace (above) was impossible to resist! Even the packaging the shopgirl sends you off with (note: this is a place where it's totally cool to knit scarves while at work) is delightful. The Meet Me at Mikes blog is pretty charming as well, and packed full of links to some other really cute design blogs. 
And if you're not lucky enoughto be in Melbourne, you can also get your cute fix flipping through the pages of awesome Aussie fashion mag Frankie, which is always a mix of cute and vintage and pretty things- this issue's got vintage wardrobes and a crochet project!
There may be a drawback to all this cuteness--like all trends, it becomes all about the money. No doubt we'll see kids' book prices skyrocketing at garage sales, now that we all want to make our own cutesy trinkets. Vintage dresses along the Brunswick strip are already ridiculously expensive ($50 AUD and up, even for the really ugly ones!)
To quote one visitor's comment on WOMOW (Word of Mouth on the Web), "Vintage is too hot right now!"
