It is not often that fashion from Down Under features in these pages, but Australian fashion retailer Sussan opened this flagship store in the refurbished Chadstone Mall in Melbourne earlier this year, following a design created by London consultancy HMKM.

It is not often that fashion from Down Under features in these pages, but Australian fashion retailer Sussan opened this flagship store in the refurbished Chadstone Mall in Melbourne earlier this year, following a design created by London consultancy HMKM. The aim of the store interior is to offer the shopper a ‘style house’, where individual departments create the impression of discrete rooms.

There is ‘the fashion foyer’ - an area that concentrates on making an impact using visual merchandising. ‘The snug’, home to bedwear and ‘the dressing room’ - you guessed it: fitting rooms. There is even a ‘must-have wardrobe’ - for items you can’t live without.

A decorative motif uses abstract versions of the letter ‘S’ to remind shoppers of the name of the store.

One of the tasks set for HMKM when designing the store was that it should have a flexible shopfit based around a ‘found’ philosophy, whereby individual pieces are made to look like special finds, while remaining practical from a visual merchandising point of view.

Overall, this is a new store in which, while a distinctly feminine approach has been taken to the interior design, the mannequins that are used in the windows give it a somewhat more edgy feel than might otherwise have been expected. It is worth noting the large mirrored pillar, which features multiple rectangular mirrored panes, imparting a deco feel to this part of the interior.

Melbourne styles itself as Australia’s fashion capital, against traditional rival Sydney, and this store should help it to maintain that position.