The quiet Italian
Bin Hendi Avenue’s latest menswear shop is a great place to spend someone else’s money, according to James Fryer.
An afternoon shopping for a new outfit means hunting down Dhs50 bargains and buying shirts in multipacks then you’re more likely to be familiar with Bershka than Baldessarini – a top-end spin off from the Hugo Boss brand, conceived in 1993. But it seems that the market for high-fashion, high-priced men’s clothes is booming as stores offering the latest exclusive threads are springing up the world over, including Dubai.
On our visit to the first Baldessarini boutique in the Middle East things were a little quiet, but it gave us room to mooch about and sigh at the beautiful items we didn’t think our salaries would stretch to – especially those made from the finest Irish linen, Chinese cashmere and crocodile, eel and python leather no less. Patrick Bateman would appreciate how the store pristinely displays different items, from handmade cream suits from Dhs7,000, to bold vertical- striped two-ply shirts with mother of pearl buttons from Dhs1,050, and summery light wool jumpers from Dhs1,500.
There’s a small range of classic leather shoes and Chelsea boots which start from around Dhs3,400. Plus, there’s a fine range of silk ties to match outfits from the office to the wedding starting from Dhs525. You may want to give the creepy-cum-funky eel skin shirt at Dhs17,250 a miss though. This season’s yellows, greens and whites are tastefully used throughout the summer collections available until July, and followers of the brand will also know that daisy flowers and green apples are consistently used as inspiration. Fresh daisies can always be found on display.
Sports fans, who don’t want to go down the tried and tested (and clichéd) route of retro football T-shirts flooding the malls, can get their hands on fine-stitched kangaroo leather footballs instead. These natty display items, available for Dhs2,025, are a celebration of the ‘Wonder of Bern’ when Germany famously came back in the dying minutes to win the FIFA World Cup final against Hungary in 1954 – a purchase too stylish for a kickabout, but the perfect accompaniment to the footy fever sweeping the globe this month.
Baldessarini, Bin Hendi Avenue, Deira City Centre, Dubai. Tel: (04) 2226068.