There's a stretch at the top of Collins Street that I’m told locals have taken to calling the Milano End, which is either a charming bit of civic branding or a slightly retaliatory one. Either way, it got a little more literal last night.
Canali, the Italian menswear house that has been cutting suits since 1934, opened the doors on its first Melbourne boutique at number 411, and a room full of people in very good jackets turned up to see what that looks like.
What it looks like, at least to Paolo Canali, is “a bit of home”. Paolo is the Group Commercial Director, and to him, not only is this boutique “one of the best” Canalis worldwide; it’s also one of the most evocative outside of Milano HQ.
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The retail floor is finished in marble throughout, under six-metre ceilings that expand the space beyond its 160-odd square metres. Toward the back, the ceiling drops to three metres as you move into the made-to-measure room, where the sound dampens, and the floor softens. The effect is deliberate: the front of the store is for looking, the back is for being measured, Hibiki in hand.
Not only was the room packed like well-appointed sardines, but the mood was, in Italian style, buoyant. Tears were shed during speeches. Bowls of pasta, calamari, crudité, and rocky road rotated the room. Aperol(s) remained, thankfully, unspilled on the fluffy cream carpet. The roaming serenader did his version of On An Evening In Canali.
The more interesting story sits behind the shopfit. Canali didn't arrive in Melbourne on its own. The store is a Mitchell Ogilvie venture, the Brisbane menswear retailer that has been dressing Queensland's better-heeled men for 45 years and has carried Canali for a good portion of that.
This is the company's first standalone store in Melbourne, and it has certainly paid for the privilege: fitout, opening stock, and the hiring and training of a local team all came out of Mitchell Ogilvie's pocket. It's an unusual arrangement for a European house of this size, most of which prefers to control its own flagships, and it says something about the relationship. Stefano Canali, the brand's third-generation president and CEO, described it as longstanding. The teary speeches were testament to that.
Ogilvie's own pitch for Melbourne was the one you'd expect: a city that appreciates craftsmanship and understated luxury, though, in fairness, he's putting real money behind the claim. He'll also keep doing what he's always done, flying to Milan twice a year to buy each season's collection himself. This means the racks here reflect his eye rather than a head-office allocation. It shows.
Paolo mentioned how the Australian customer has evolved from “70% suiting to 50% – the other half is lifestyle and accessories.” Despite the weather differences, the Milanese and Melbournian customer is similarly formalwear-minded.
As for the clothes, the full range is on offer: ready-to-wear tailoring, formalwear, sportswear, outerwear, and accessories. The made-to-measure service is the real draw, with suits hand-finished in Italy, where Canali still makes everything across five production centres.
Whether Melbourne needed another luxury menswear store on Collins Street is a fair question. The street is hardly short of them. But there's a difference between a brand planting a flag to expand its territory, and a retailer biding time to expand meaningfully. On the evidence of last night, it's the latter, and a thankful addition to men needing a real Italian suit.
Canali is now open at 411 Collins Street, Melbourne.