MISS RETRO
Melanie Koning has always loved retro combining her two favourite things fashion and rollerskating. This week we sat down with Miss Retro 2018 to talk all things vintage.
Whether she’s on the rollerskating rink or wowing the judges on stage, Melanie Koning is on a roll.
We sat down with the 19-year-old from Pottsville to talk all things retro fashion, rollerskating and winning Miss Retro 2018. Q Congratulations on your win. What can you tell us about the competition? It was run by Wicked Rockabilly, they’re a boutique and run the whole thing. They posted a thing on the NightQuarter Facebook page … and I got through to being a finalist. I had to send in photos of my outfit, what I was going to wear on the night and then 80 words on what I do and how I do it.
Q Once you got through to the finals, what did you have to do to win?
A: I was announced as a finalist five days before the event and the competition happened at NightQuarter. Between it we had to mingle about, get to know people and then we were judged on stage presence and our performance, so we had to do a little walkabout-type thing. Or skateabout, for me.
Q A:What was your reaction when you found out you had won?
I was so excited. I was so not expecting it because there were so many other people. One girl had done eight pageants before so she was a professional, she really knew what was happening, and I was just a little newbie who didn’t know what was going on. So I was very excited.
Q How did you actually get started with vintage and retro fashion?
A: In about Year 8 I went to my first Coolie Rocks On. I fell in love with everything there and I had to buy a dress the day I got there. I think seeing all the cars, all the cool fashion – I really loved it.
Q What’s your favourite thing about retro fashion?
A: Being able to dress up and have a completely different personality. So you get to put on your outfit, do up your hair and your make-up and everything, and then you just become a completely different person, which is so much fun. All your anxieties go away, you just become different and I love it.
Q Do you have big inspirations for your style?
A: Grease! It’s definitely one of my biggest inspirations, I have the record of Grease, I listen to all the music, I love the movie. It’s not even just the fashion, just the attitude of it, that’s what I like the most. Q
With your job at Epic Skate Rink, do you get to embrace your love of all things retro there? A: Being on skates is a very
retro thing to do, so I guess it does influence my love of retro-type things. It’s not a very common thing these days to go roller skating, I find it’s a very retro type of thing to do.
Q Do you enter a lot of competitions? What kind of training do you do?
A: I enter my figure skating competitions, so I do about five of them a year. At the moment I’m doing three days a week on the rink at Epic, and then about four times a week off-rink on a separate court. Then I go to the gym every other day.
Q You’re at uni as well, so how do you balance those two things?
A: It’s about everything being close together, because the closer it is the easier it is for me to hop from one place to another.
Q What advice would you give to someone hoping to get started in retro fashion?
A: I would say get your foot in the door, and a theme is very important. So I always had the theme of cherries — necklace, dress — and over time that made a complete outfit. So find a theme you’re comfortable with, stick with that, then find your own edge. My retro dress this year was quite short because of my skating but I think that gave me a bit more of an edge.