Such luxury fashion stores had for the local building community

From a fashion perspective, the benefit of a new luxury fashion store in Brisbane is clear.

When Hermes launched on Edward Street yesterday, local men and women with a taste for the finer things in life revelled in the fact that another high-end house had decided to come to town.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman was also quick to point out the “new world city” symbolism of the boutique; it continued the global-standard gentrification of the Edward Street “fashion precinct”.

But what was perhaps less obvious was the benefit such luxury fashion stores had for the local building community.

Milling among the gaggle of sartorially elegant guests at the Lord Mayor's official ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday was Matt Morton of FDC Construction.

Morton introduced himself as the construction manager behind a project he said was worth about $9000 for each of its 95 square metres.

Compared to the fit-out of a CBD office block, Morton said the Hermes spend was about four times higher.

He said this store was the latest in a string of projects that represented a luxury retail boom in Brisbane – news as good for tradesmen as fashionistas.

“There's Swiss glass in the windows and the joinery is out of a Singaporean retailer but all of the base trades for the project have been local tradesmen,” Mr Morton said.

“Normally international companies do this sort of thing so we're pretty glad that we had the opportunity to do it.”

Moving from office work to high-end retail was not without its challenges. Mr Morton said that each premium space demanded originality and pointed to a brand motif underfoot of the well-heeled launch guests.

“That inlay here is the first time anything like this has been done in the world,” he said.

“It has to be done the in place, on site, and the intricacies of it relate right down to the horses eye – they're details that are probably insignificant to most but it represents a great opportunity for our local craftsmen and tradespeople to show off their talent.

“It's a masterpiece in itself and it was done by a bloke from the Gold Coast.”

Yet it was Paris that provides the aesthetic inspiration for the fifth Hermes store in Australia and the third in Queensland.

As with every other global Hermes outlet, the interiors of the Brisbane boutique were designed by French architectural agency RDAI, under the direction of Dennis Montel.

Mr Montel has added a vaguely tropical feel to an otherwise classic design; the design notes suggested a contemporary interpretation of the fashion house's original address on Faubourg Sain Honore, Paris.