Melbourne's gentlemen-only Athenaeum Club has leased a 400-square-metre shop space to luxury Italian fashion house Fendi at its high-end premises at the top of Collins Street.

The long-term leasing deal, rumoured to be worth between $1.8 million and $2 million a year in annual rent, will see Fendi establish its flagship Australian store at 85 Collins Street at the foot of the 150-year-old famously snooty social club.