The Best Men’s Fashion Boutiques in Melbourne

It was only in the '90s that the sage Cher Horowitz said "So, okay, I don't wanna be a traitor to my generation and all, but I don't get how guys dress today. I mean, c'mon, it looks like they just fell out of bed and put on some baggy pants and take their greasy hair (ew) and cover it up with a backwards cap and, like, we're expected to swoon? I don't think so!"

Although these were years with many charms (grunge, Yoho Diablos, etc), we feel blessed to now be into the 2010s, where men are free and willing to shower, blow the occasional pay cheque on dapper duds and experiment with wacky sartorial choices, like colour. There are plenty of shopping destinations in Melbourne to encourage your haberdashery habit, but a few do it more stylishly than others. These are our picks of the best menswear boutiques fit for a new-age dandy, an old-fashioned brute and something in between.

Incu

If you live in Melbourne you're probably already a frenzied Incu evangelist, likely to froth at the mouth and start speaking in tongues at the very mention of twin brothers Brian and Vincent Wu, the men behind the myth, who as it stands are actually far too normal and nice to be cult leaders in the weird, non-fashion sense of the word. What might come as news to you is that late last year the Flinders Lane store was joined by a new outpost that took up residence right across the way from the QV women's store. Now the two siblings can stare out lovingly at one another all day as numbed office workers walking by shovel sushi into their mouths and drool at the window displays featuring the likes of A.P.C, Norse Projects, Saturdays Surf and Incu's in-house label, Weathered.

Shop 6A, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, 03 9663 9933; Shop ACL9, QV, Albert Coates Lane, Melbourne, 03 9662 3730; incuclothing.com

Up There

This one might not be number one, but it's, you guessed it, Up There! Calling a clothing store what you say when you see sky writing made sense for the original store, which was situated above ground on McKillop Street, but since the South Melbourne sibling, which opened late last year, lies firmly on street level amidst the steaming dim sim enjoying locals, it’s just downright silly. Forgive them that small oversight and the charming shop boys (who also double as fashion bloggers) will woo you with literal fancy pants (and other items of clothing) by Yuketen, Norse Projects, Bleu De Paname, Monitaly and more. Heck, they'll even repair your pants when you inevitably split them in a humiliating fashion.

Level 1, 15 McKillop Street, Melbourne, 03 9670 6225; 224 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, 03 9690 5226; uptherestore.com

Customer

Just like Incu's Wu brothers, Alexander and Tim Britten-Finschi are super-stylish siblings who live, socialise, design and run a menswear store together. Heck, they may as well have been born conjoined, although that may have hindered the sewing process somewhat. The duo's Flinders Lane store is filled with a hi-lo blend of wares by Pageant, Christopher Esber, Song for the Mute and the boys' own label From Britten, which recently received the coveted L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival's National Designer Award. We presume that as children, their mum, fashion designer Linda Britten, dressed them in threads so fine they'd make Suri hang her head in shame — fashion's in their blood.

Level 6, 289 Flinders Lane, Melbourne; customerstore.com.au

Aussie Disposals

Although it's not exclusively a menswear store, there is something that really gets the pheromones going about a chap decked out in a military jacket who looks like he could yield a Swiss army knife like Bear Grylls whilst pitching a tent with his spare hand. Approach this store with caution though, as the overzealous shopper is likely to emerge wearing a legionnaires hat, zip-off pants and a high-visibility vest that screams 'unhinged' rather than the desired 'doing camo with aplomb'. You have been warned.

Multiple locations; aussiedisposals.com.au

Handsom

According to their website, Handsom "make nice clothes" — plain and simple. While that statement is true, it kind of sells the label's artfully speckled chambray shirts, slim-cut woollen slacks that cannot be described as anything less than dapper and delightful cardigans that look fit for Paddington Bear himself and make you want to snuggle into them and breathe in the wearer's presumably oaky scent short. They make flipping fantastic clothes (for the fairer sex, too) is more like it!

163 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, 03 9078 7306; handsom.com.au

Someday Store

Stumble into Someday and you could be forgiven for thinking you've teleported to a leading flagship concept store in Tokyo or New York, until you wander to the nearby stairwell to be slapped in the face with the heady scent of fish and stale beer wafting upstairs from the Toff. No such luck, you're in Curtin House, princess. That doesn't seem so bad when you’re surrounded by a superbly curated selection of wares by the likes of Neighbourhood, White Mountaineering, Visvim and of course PAM, the fashion label by the store's co-owners and real-life partners in crime and covetable items, Misha Hollenbach (Perks) and Shauna Toohey (Mini). Not a pair to be limited in anything they do, alongside menswear the duo has filled Someday with girls' get-up, rare books, music and miscellaneous collector's items.

Level 3, Curtin House, 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne, 03 9654 6458; somedaystore.com

Images via incuclothing.com, uptherestore.com, From Britten, handsom.com.au, somedaystore.com