St Collins Lane, which occupies the site of the old Australia On Collins shopping precinct running between Collins Street and Little Collins Street, is still a work in progress. While less than half of the centre is occupied, there s already a raft of firm French favourites making their home on the ground level. Maje and Sandro are all top choices for chic statement items, and cult Parisian label The Kooples has chosen St Collins Lane as its first Australian outpost. If you’ve got some cash to splash, there’s also Italian handbag brand Furla.
St Collins Lane is also home to The Aviary, a collection of dining establishments rather than your traditional shopping mall food court, including Neil Perry's Burger Project.
Neil Masterton, Design Director of ARM Architecture – the crew behind the design aspects of the build, intended for St Collins Lane to represent the convergence of Melbourne laneway culture and Collins Street luxury. Architecturally, he’s designed it with more than a passing nod to palatial arcades of yesteryear, such as the Royal Arcade, including plenty of brass fixtures.
Abandon your phone and no shoe-gazing for this shopping adventure. Gaze skyward and take in the ceiling, which is hung with hundreds of cylindrical dark green glass lampshades – it's somewhere between a fir forest of light and a Venetian glass labyrinth.