Don’t Tell Fannie

I’ve been in here with my girlfriend a few times and have been impressed by their commitment to featuring local designers. The prices are mid-​range — not cheap but not high-​end boutique — but they also usually have a sales rack at the front of the store.
The space itself is long and narrow yet somehow inviting. As for the clothes, well I am no expert but I know what I like, and I appreciate the use of colour and texture in their range of dresses, skirts, hot pants and creative tops.
They also stock children’s clothes, and as a late unmarried late-​twenties male without kids, that couldn’t be of any less interest to me.

When I go shopping in West End it’s because I want to find something different. Something unique or secondhand that I couldn’t find in the City, Valley, or shopping centres. Don’t Tell Fannie looks promising at first: the name is quirky and the font on the sign looks fun and cute. Unfortunately as soon as you’re about thirty centimetres inside the door you’ll realise that Don’t Tell Fannie is very much like a lot of other Brisbane boutique stores, stocking the same brands in the same colours and styles.
There’s nothing wrong with these kinds of boutiques, per se, it’s just that they’ve sprung up everywhere under the guise of being unique and local but so many of them just seem to copy each other until you can barely distinguish them. The prices in Don’t Tell Fannie, paired with the lack of anything I haven’t seen elsewhere, mean that I usually do a quick 360 and leave empty-​handed. An experience like this is especially disappointing in somewhere like West End where you’re hoping to find some hidden treasures.

I like Don’t Tell Fannie for its support of emerging Aussie designers. I like it because it sells the conventional stuff, but also some pieces that are few and far between. I like it because the last time I was there with friends, we were delighted to find that Rachel Burke’s brand Yellowcake had found its way here. I like it because it’s the perfect little boutique to wander into with friends and spend a while just happily browsing.
It’s just a really cute place to come when you appreciate more unique accessories and contemporary fashion. There isn’t anything in particular that sets it apart, but I really appreciate this place and It’s always on my visit list when I go to West End.

There’s so many of these types of boutiques that have sprung up around Brisbane in the last 10 or so years so I find it hard to get excited any more.
The stock here is the usual — an «eclectic mix of young designers» (and yes, they stock House of Harlow 1960 jewellery, yawn) but I didn’t think there was anything extraordinary in there.
The one thing that did catch my eye, though (and not in a good way), was the rail with a cardboard sign saying «Emerging Designers». Or something like that.
And the reason it grabbed my attention was because hanging up front, centre stage, was quite possibly the ugliest dress I’ve ever seen. Layer upon layer of stiff, immovable tulle stuck to a strapless dress with ‘Head in the Clouds’ emblazoned on it in sequins. Not cool, not edgy, just ugly. And it most definitely should never have emerged from that particular emerging designer’s head.
If there weren’t so many boutiques like this already in Brissie, I’d love it, but it needs to do something a little more unique to get my loyalty.

This funky boutique is a great place to purchase items from established as well as up and coming Australian designers. It’s a charming little store, with brightly coloured clothing covering the walls, posters on the door and a chalkboard featuring random scribblings. Part of the window display incorporates a small amount of fake turf and a miniature white picket fence encasing a few of the store’s items. It’s a rather odd idea which somehow matches the shop perfectly.
Don’t Tell Fannie reminds me a lot of Mombasa in its younger days, when their shops were smaller and more unique.