The Standard Store is on my list of top stores Down Under. This is because owners Nicola & Orlando Reindorf know what’s good in the W’Menswear department, but also because I am fundamentally in love with the idea of ‘His & Hers’, I’m not saying that The Standard Store is one of those matching couple shebangs (ie. the streets of Seoul c. 2000s, ‘it still happens now just in a subtler, more tasteful way) but I do appreciate how each season is curated with this in mind. It’s why I love labels like A.P.C, with each collection showing the world how garments like a classic raincoat can be elegantly translated for him and her, each with their own similar and uniquely special qualities. I enjoy how playing with scale, different proportions of one textile, seams, or something as simple as a button can speak to masculinity or femininity, again, subtly. Nicola & Orlando supply Aussies with some of my favourite things from around the world like Trickers, smells and smoke by Maison Balzac, YMC, Sessun, Armor Lux, and crazy things by those crazy people at P.A.M. (funnest).
Nowadays I am reminded more and more of the beauty in subtlety, something that I feel has the potential to get lost in our fast changing culture. I see “in-your-face-ness” saturating music and subsequently fashion, a kind of need-to-prove-how-tough-you-are-ness that I don’t particularly feel necessary in our day and age. My eyes are getting tired of all-black ensembles, aggressive slogans, much bling, and men who once rocked bespoke suits who are now rocking socks and rubber flip flops, to be Frank it’s just not my cup of tea. This of course is my personal observation, but that is why things like The Standard Store have a special place in my mind. Goodness still shines through.
I find it refreshing to enter a store that speaks the language of fun, and this is because Nicola and Orlando live a funnest life possible policy. They also share a love for deliciousness like French butter, and exploring the world to share all the good things it has to offer. I know buying trips half way across the world on a tight schedule doesn’t seem great when you’re doing it guys, but let me say the outcome looks rewarding in itself, and to travel is to SEE. You will find their super handsome dog Honey showing his curly haired face at their Crown Street store, as he is in fact the face of the company, and I suppose he’s obliged to appear now and again. Besides that, the lifestyle that Sydney brings ain’t half bad with all of it’s sunshine, coffee culture, clean air, and hop-skip-and-a-jump away beaches that the S.S. family take advantage of. Funnest life indeed.
#FUNNESTLIFEPOSSIBLE Notes:
Nicola & Orlando Reindorf, The Standard Store
Q/ Describe WHAT YOU DO as if you were talking to a five-year-old.
Nicola: We play dress ups and dolls house. Always rearranging everything in our little stores so that they look pretty.
Orlando: Use it up, and wear it out, make it do, or do without.
Q/ Tell us how you slipped into W’Menswear.
Nicola: A love of dress ups + dolls houses…
Orlando: Nicola ran out of wardrobe space! So we opened up a shop… Then a second one!
Q/ What did you have for BREAKFAST this morning / What do you wish you had for BREAKFAST this morning?
Nicola: Green tea, muesli + nuts because I quit coffee + bread 🙁 / I wish I had a buttery croissant and an espresso… but only kind of…
Orlando: Black coffee O.J. toast w/ French butter & homemade kumquat marmalade – heaven 🙂
Q/ What does the word GOODNESS mean to you?
Nicola: The real thing… 100% authentic and with love. Whether that is goodness in what we eat, say, do, wear, feel, create.
Orlando: “Goodness gracious me” aka Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren in The Millionairess 1960
Q/ Draw us a picture of STANDARD STYLE.
[A store inventory and some other good things like red wine, their super cute dog Honey, and poppies are drawn like a sort of happy store emblem, or perhaps wallpaper…? A lot of my favourite things are included like a classic Armor Lux striped tee, a pair of Trickers, and a Sessun dress.]
Q/ What is a typical SUNDAY in your world?
Nicola: A long walk around Centennial Park with Honey + Orlando, kiddy football, teaching our 17 year old how to drive, tackling a mountain of laundry, opening a bottle of Rose, eating chilli crab, going to an art gallery, dancing in the kitchen.
Orlando: When it’s hot a dip in the pool / sea & reading books & magazines [ditto guys…]
Q / What is always in your POCKET?
Nicola: My pockets are always empty
Orlando: My pockets are always full: money, keys, phone
Q / What was the last thing you GOOGLED?
Nicola: Air fare to London
Orlando: Apartments for sale in Manhattan, always dreaming!
Q / Who’s IG account distracts you MUCHLY?
Nicola: I like getting sucked into the Instagram hole by just randomly looking at one (prob. famous) person, then looking at their followers, their followers followers + beyond… you find yourself in a very strange place.
Orlando: Judy Blame
Pictured in this article are photos of their newest store, The Standard Store Melbourne. /
