Ned_Flanders
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- Aug 22, 2009
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Actually it has retained some of its random wandering weirdos aspect, which I kind of enjoy. But the purportedly high end was just chain outlets at the toorak road end and they were already leaving premises prior to any pandemic as much more accessible elsewhere (especially online) and the smaller designers with promise have been decamping for over a decade too. And I do find it a bit sad to see, but these things happen to great regions all the time
Chapel was never high end, what it was was cool fashion. Lots of hip and eclectic places. Just imo, what killed them was the death of chapel as a club destination. The loss of the gay nightclubs on commercial road, places like the Conti disappearing, and the nightclubs becoming dated hurt the place. All of that made it the home of celebs and footballers (many women used to drive out of their way to the Coles because of the male talent who used to go there ). Remember the jam factory used to be where all Melbourne's film premiere occured.
By the 2000s those crowds had moved elsewhere in melbourne. Crown, stkilda, and the Melbourne CBD revitalisation all played their part. Sad, because I spent most weekends in the 90s being at chapel for at least one night, but it's what happens when you take crowds for granted.