Which city is better, Sydney or Melbourne? I’m in a unique position to decide

July 26, 2026 — 5:46pm

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After spending half my life in Sydney I have answered the footy siren call to return home to Melbourne. It’s fashion not football sending me down the Hume Highway to within sniffing distance of the Yarra River, but the AFL is Melbourne’s answer to Kevin Bacon, with six degrees of separation connecting anything within the city limits to the MCG.

These are the final words I will type as fashion editor of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and they have nothing to do with Princess Catherine’s latest tiara, Taylor Swift’s wedding dress or the outrageous and well-deserved success of the Zimmermann sisters in conquering international fashion.

Before starting in my new role as the creative director of the Melbourne Fashion Festival, I would like to address the one question that has bombarded me since announcing my double defection: which city is better, Melbourne or Sydney?

To do this, I would normally divide the question into categories, in the style of a Miss Universe pageant, without the swimsuit section, which is lucky for........

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