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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: A group of press gather at 71 Collins Street on an unusually mild August morning. In front of them, two men in black tailcoats and top hats guard a one-storey-high white curtain. Soon, and with little warning, the latter drops, revealing the newly renovated Hermès Melbourne boutique.
Opened on the corner of Collins and Exhibition street 10 years ago, stepping inside the boutique—which is housed inside a 101-year-old Heritage listed building—feels deeply transitional; a world away from the bustling footpath outside its arched windows. As visitors enter the store, men’s and women’s silks—scarves and ties— greet them on the left and fragrances on the right. A little deeper and the house’s leather goods, watches and jewellery are on full display. Upstairs, natural light imbues the Hermès home collection, women and men’s ready-to-wear offerings and, of course, shoes.
On this day, too, a craftsperson in a light grey apron and who was flown in from the brand’s atelier in Paris, was seen meticulously cutting and pressing a red leather strap at a pop-up workstation. Indeed, the spirit of 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré is captured with many elements reminding visitors of the French house’s early beginnings; the ironwork on the staircase, the mosaic on the floor, the traditional Grecques lighting on the ceiling, the list goes on.
“Beyond these, the architect [Parisian architecture agency RDAI] responded to the complexities of the architecture in Melbourne–the very well preserved neo-gothic architecture that we see here–by adding a richness of palette, material and texture,” Karin Upton Baker, Managing Director of Hermès Australia, tells the media.
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French artist Hubert Crabières was quietly mingling with guests. Walk past the store on Collins and you’ll notice his incredible work in the boutique’s window, scenography titled ‘The Faubourg Enchantery’. In March, the house’s Shanghai store unveiled Crabières’ exceptional window scenes, a project whereby the creative spent many months photographing the Faubourg in Paris and combining these photographs with images from the Maison’s archives. (He later dedicated the windows to his mother.) In Melbourne, he’s done it again.
“Hubert said to me this morning, ‘This is a reminder of our present and our past,’” Upton Baker says. “And I think that’s a very important message… The ephemeral thing—or the metaphysical thing or the thing I can’t really tell you about in a material way—is the spirit of the Faubourg and the family of Hermès. This is the thing that probably inhabits us the most because there’s just very few companies of this scale operating in the world that still retain that family spirit.”
“On that note, welcome to our new house.”
Take a tour around the new boutique at 71 Collins Street, Melbourne, below.
