Arriving outside of Carlton’s prodigious Eastern Market is elating, to say the least, because from the very beginning you know that you’re dealing with something far greater than a store. Housed in a rehabilitated Catholic chapel that has been wrought in steel and the tungsten light of a pre-Raphaelite painting, Eastern Market was established in late 2006 by retail dignitary Lucinia Pinto and partner Stephen McGlashan, and the by-product of their devotional labour is bewildering.  Inside these walls, every presented luxury is magnified and has an etiological tale from a mythology with which the pair are well-acquainted.

Stocking an anthology of collections from Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom, this is the Australian home of Carol Christian Poell, Paul Harnden, Maurizio Amadei, If Six Was Nine, Elena Dawson and Maurizio Altieri among others. Eastern Market is not a place for the faint of heart because it’s not possible to access it and retain the usual stratarian anonymity that characterises shopping. Pinto and McGlashan don’t hustle fashion for the people, they deal in clothing for you. So as you ponder that, take a deep breath and introduce yourself. Respect Eastern Market and it’ll respect you in turn. You may even make a friend (or, at the very least, learn something new about horse leather).