Gentlemen's clubs

AS men's fashion enjoys a boom, menswear stores are redesigned to include the classic, the modern and the one-off.

An Incu store, designed by Kelvin Ho.

SCOTT Schuman has a lot to answer for. The New York-based street-style photographer who goes by the online guise of The Sartorialist has, since beginning his cult blog in 2005, revolutionised the way men look at fashion.

Schuman roams the globe in search of regular individuals – not models or actors or celebrities – who exude unique style. When he stumbles upon them – say, a middle-aged tailor at the Pitti Uomo menswear festival in Italy or a young hipster on the corner of Bleecker Street in New York – he photographs them in a simple, honest way that highlights not what they’re wearing in terms of designer labels, but rather how they put themselves together. The idea, Schuman has said, is to bridge the disconnect between what is being seen on the runway and what real people are wearing. As menswear retailer Josh McPherson says, “It’s not just voyeuristic; it gives guys an opportunity to be inspired, even if they’re not particularly into ‘fashion’.”

McPherson, who with friend Andrew Byrne began their suit business The Cloakroom in Brisbane in 2007, falls into this camp. “I’m not particularly confi dent with colour and new styles,” he admits, “but when you see an older guy with salt-and-pepper hair, smoking a cigar, wearing a silk cravat with a double-breasted jacket, that’s inspiring. People can relate and aspire to that.”

Schuman’s global infl uence parallels men’s increased interest in clothing. Alex Knight, the general manager of newly created suiting label M J Bale, has witnessed firsthand the shift in men’s attitude toward clothing. “While guys won’t openly admit that they’re embracing fashion, they certainly are embracing the products they’re wearing,” he says. And it’s not just digital photography that’s generated the interest, believes Knight. “The quality of the editorial content being published, from blogs to books, is outstanding. If detailed information is there, men will soak it up.”

Beyond media, it makes sense that more and more men are interested in fashion. A look at the shift in style over the past few years – from the androgyny of Dior Homme and Rick Owens, to more structured cuts and classic garments as heralded by new menswear hero Thom Browne – suggests that the market is now more accessible to the average male. Whether the change of style was cyclic or in some way intrinsically linked to the new conservatism that has prevailed post-GFC is debatable, but it certainly means change for retailers.

Of course, the financial dive had a profound effect on how stores operate. But the greatest change isn’t that retail staff now make it their business to remember your name (admittedly, this is groundbreaking). Instead, it’s the customers themselves. Once the domain of women, shopping has become a veritable playground of masculinity. And while men may not shop with the same speed and volume as women, their shopping forays are the result of a changing retail landscape that welcomes men rather than scares them. This space – if it can be called that, rather than “shop” – is setting a new benchmark for what men are coming to expect when shopping. The trend is evident in New York. French leathergoods and fashion house Hermes this year opened its first standalone store dedicated entirely to men’s ready-to-wear and accessories on Madison Avenue, directly opposite its US flagship store.

Designed by Paris-based architecture firm Rena Dumas, the sleek interior of steel walls and wood ceilings is filled with dark leather furniture, contrasting the light elegance of the product offering, from bespoke suits to leather bags. It still feels like Hermes, but without the vast women’s range, the strength of artistic director Veronique Nichanian’s menswear offering really shines.

Meanwhile, Tom Ford’s lofty salon-style space – of unsurpassed grandeur and old-world elegance – has been recognised as a men’s haven since opening in 2007. The notion that the male species should have dedicated individual spaces that refl ect their values and interests seems new and yet is seemingly archaic when one looks to London or Milan. Locally, things are just beginning.

Sydney-based architect Kelvin Ho of Akin Creative, one of Australia’s most respected in his fi eld for his work with Sass & Bide, Willow and Incu, believes menswear retail in Australia has great opportunity for growth.

“Menswear has been stuck in the world of generic chain stores and depressing department store experiences,” says Ho, who most recently created M J Bale’s fi rst stores in Sydney’s CBD and Woollahra. “To be able to shift how men perceive retail is very important, and I like the idea of creating a space that isn’t too ‘retail’ focused.” In Ho’s M J Bale stores, he contrasts natural hemp curtains in the fitting rooms with high-shine timber counters and leather armchairs, creating a tactile experience that refl ects the combination of cloths that go into creating a suit. As Knight explains: “One of the key aspects of our business is provenance: we like to compare ourselves to a fine chef
who knows everything from where his ingredients came from, to how they mix together to create a dish. We want to create an environment that showcases our level of enthusiasm for and interest in what goes on behind the scenes.”

And yet it doesn’t look like a clothing factory. Ho has emphasised the masculinity of the space by adding vintage clocks, furniture and artwork. The mix of the new with the old refl ects the traditions of tailoring and the concept, intrinsic to menswear, of investment.

The environment in which clothing is housed is increasingly important, so much so that it often gains more attention than the garments themselves. Ford’s space, housing the self-titled menswear brand he established after leaving Gucci in 2004, sits, if we can so compare stores, at the top of the retail food chain. As The Cloakroom’s McPherson notes, “it takes a very confident man to step into that store”. Greeted in the lobby by a staff member to ascertain “what you are looking for”, the warren of spectacularly designed rooms – from a woodpanelled shirt room to an octagonal perfume chamber – is a visual feast. The cavernous space affords men the opportunity to step away from the bustle of their working ay and enjoy, at least for a moment, the quiet luxury that was once central to a refined man’s life. For Ford, this mood seems apt to a man’s headspace when shopping.

Despite geography, Ford has made no less of an impression here. Upmarket and newly revamped men’s department store Harrolds has introduced Tom Ford branded concessions within its Sydney and Melbourne stores. Holding the local franchise rights to the brand, Harrolds will stock the vast majority of the collection, and in-season with the northern hemisphere. The company’s newly appointed creative director, Chris Kyvetos, doesn’t see the mix of seasons as a commercial threat. “It’s hard to sell European menswear labels in Australia,” says Kyvetos who, after leaving hip multi-brand retailer Assin after eight years, is responsible for the repositioning of Harrolds. “Most of the stand-alone stores don’t offer a big men’s range but in a multi-branded store you can mix things up a bit.”

Kyvetos has dedicated 100sqm to the Tom Ford collection in the Harrolds stores, both of which are close to 1000sqm in size. And Ford is in good company. Expanding upon their existing offering of luxury suiting from Brioni and Pal Zileri are younger, more fashion-forward designers such as Raf Simons, Stefano Pilati’s Yves Saint Laurent and Paul Smith. There’s a designated section for sneakers, in stark contrast to a room fi lled with black-tie accessories, a glass-enclosed fragrance area and a bespoke tailor ready to make any alterations required. This, here, is central to the new wave of men’s retail. As Knight says of M J Bale’s customer, “he only shops fi ve or six times a year. So when he does pluck up the courage to shop, he wants to do it all at once. It’s important for us to be ready for the day a customer walks in, because he’ll probably want a suit, a sports jacket, a pair of chinos, four or five shirts, maybe a few new ties.” Kyvetos echoes Knight’s observation. “In this end of the market you need to appeal to the fact that men shop for a reason. We’ve sectioned the brands and styles in the store so that they’re in a fitting environment.”

Melbourne-based tailor Thom Grogan has taken this idea further with Captains of Industry, a space he opened in a CBD laneway with business partner and cordwainer James Roberts. With what he describes as “the George Clooney package”, Captains of Industry is not strictly a retail space, as you can’t simply buy one of Grogan’s bespoke suits or Roberts’ hand-made shoes; instead there is a process of consultation, fi ttings and customisation.

The large, open-plan space has the feel of a New York loft, with raw concrete walls and exposed lighting, and attracts a young, creative customer. What differentiates Captains of Industry, however, is that the space also incorporates a hairdresser (manned by Steven Blick), a cafe by day and a whisky bar by night. They’ve also just hosted their fi rst art exhibition. The idea, Grogan says, is to create a sense of community. “We want to make it more comfortable and accessible than the very high-end retailers like Harrolds”. Business has boomed since the January opening. “I’ll have a customer come in for a suit, and they’ll return a few days later and book in for a haircut or to have shoes made. We treat all customers the same whether they’re buying a suit or just a cup of coffee.”

McPherson and Byrne have this month opened The Cloakroom in Brisbane’s newly renovated Wintergarden centre, bringing their store count to three. After beginning their bespoke suit business in a small private suite of an old Brisbane office building, they followed up with The Cloakroom in Sydney’s Surry Hills in early 2009. “The older generation of tailors got used to what they were doing and didn’t see a need to evolve with trends,” says McPherson of the pair’s foray into suiting, he from furniture design and Byrne from the corporate sector.

They offer ready-to-wear suiting under the label Pistols at Dawn but their bespoke service, whereby a customer is individually measured and selects a style, fabrics and finishes, far outweighs it. “I think it’s a cultural movement beyond just clothing,” he offers of the notion of bespoke.

In the cavernous, black-walled retail space, McPherson and Byrne also sell shoes from English shoemaker Grenson, whose brogues have come back into fashion in recent seasons and for whom they are the local sales agent. On occasion, they also offer fragrances, woven ties and cuffl inks. They’re also looking to incorporate furniture and other wares, drawing on McPherson’s contacts in the design world. “Whether or not they have a price tag on them doesn’t matter,” he says, “it’s more about creating a mood and a platform for potential collaborations, or even just a source of inspiration.”

Knight doesn’t classify M J Bale’s service as bespoke in the same way as Captains of Industry or The Cloakroom. “We’re a bit more commercially orientated,” he explains. “It allows us to deliver 99 per cent of what you get from a bespoke product but at a more accessible price.” Inherent, nonetheless, is the element of personalisation, of involving the customer in the process.

“I define this as new luxury, which has really developed in the past two years”, says Knight, who spent several years in the US with Rockwood Management Group, working with such brands as Erin Fetherston and 3.1 Phillip Lim. Captains of Industry’s Grogan agrees, adding that custom services have a sense of romanticism. “The skills used in some of the processes, such as in our suits and shoes, are very rare. That there is a new customer out there buying into these industries is fantastic.” Grogan’s suits are made in New Zealand of Italian and British wools and take six to eight weeks to create after an initial fi tting. Meanwhile, Roberts’ shoes are created entirely by hand, from the dying of the leather to the welting of the soles and the stitching.

According to Hermes’ Nichanian, a custom-made garment is about the joy of the process. “Our service allows you time to make your choices,” she says. “In the privacy of our salons, the tailor listens, advises and commits to paper the garment-to-be.” Hermes is not new to custom orders, with a long-established bespoke leather service that allows a customer to design and build anything from a guitar case to a baseball glove. Their menswear custom service, which is available in its New York men’s store, is unique in way of its lack of limits. Beyond suits and shirts, the brand applies a custom service to knitwear, leather, casual wear and ties, and in each category the choices of fabric, colour and pattern are in the thousands.

Despite its obvious position at the pointy end of the market and its long history, Hermes has embraced digital media in an innovative way with its playful cartoon graphics and mini-stories that appear at odds with the brand’s product offering yet seem to complement them in their uniqueness. You can also buy on their website, which opens up an entirely new debate about the future of retail in the age of the internet.

For M J Bale, says Knight, online retailing is where the future lies, yet that doesn’t mean they’ll be closing their boutiques. “I’d love to see men’s retail become more closely linked to online so our customers, once we have their details on fi le, can order online rather than having to come in,” he says. A look at the acquisition of Net-a-Porter, the highly successful online retailer of luxury clothing and accessories, is evidence of the growing value of digital retail. Launched in 2000 by former magazine journalist Natalie Massenet, and now attracting over two million global viewers per month, it is worth £350 million ($580 million) according to Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods company that acquired a majority shareholding in the retail site in April. The Wall Street Journal reported that Richemont, already a 33 per cent stakeholder in the retail site, spent a further £225 million ($370 million) acquiring shares held by private shareholders.

While Net-a-Porter has catered only for women, it will next year open a second site, Mr Porter, catering to the men’s market and headed by previous editor of Wallpaper and Esquire magazines, Jeremy Langmead. Interestingly, Net-a-Porter is a great source of editorial content, with its own magazine of news and features as well as fashion shoots. The content, being online, is updated on a daily and weekly basis and is tied in with its product offering, making it a clever, customised way of targeting its customers. This framework will be applied to its Mr Porter site, too. If Schuman’s current editorial portfolio – GQ, style.com – is anything to go by, it’s likely he’ll wind up snapping for Mr Porter. Which is clever, really. How better to get men to shop when you can make the products enviable not through advertising but rather with new media platforms that appear, on the outside, quietly humble.

That the line between customer, retailer and creator is becoming increasingly blurred is an interesting proposition for the future of retail. The level of information available to consumers today surpasses that which any retailer could previously offer and, rather than shutting the door to men, it ingrains them in the process, which seems far more appealing. “It’s the same rationale men have about buying a car: they’ll test drive 15, read all the information to understand it and then go out and fi nd the best possible deal,” says Knight. And whether a man visits a store for a coffee, to create a bespoke suit or to purchase an entire wardrobe, the retailer must accommodate him or dissolve into a museum version of their former self. “It’s an organic process,” says Kyvetos. “Australia hasn’t had this level of or diversity in its product and retail offering before. And if you don’t evolve, you become a shop that people will
start referring to as ‘where their dad shops’.”