Global icon goes back to where it all began

There’s good reason why Aesop has marked its 40th year as a brand with a return to High Street, Armadale by opening a new concept store in Melbourne.

It’s in part an ode to founder and former owner Dennis Paphitis who in 1987 unveiled the Emeis salon in nearby Baldwin Street – blending essential oils with hair products and then building a beauty empire that became a global hit.

Paphitis rebranded his salon product as Aesop, naming the business after the Greek fabulist who wrote a collection of moral tales known as Aesop’s Fables.

The quiet luxury of his products garnered a cult following over the decades, selling the business to Natura & Co. in 2012 and then L’Oréal in a record-breaking acquisition of $3.7 billion in 2023.

Aesop is a world of instantly recognisable brown glass pharmaceutical bottles – with no bright lights on cream labels, a defiant focus on plant-based ingredients and a capsule luxury skincare range that didn’t need a soapbox to get noticed.

Back in humble Baldwin Street, Armadale, Paphitis’ salon loyalists fell in love with the product, the service, the minimalist design of the interior space which included elegant alabaster and subdued lighting.

Given it was the late ‘80s, an era defined by excess and power dressing, he leaned into a minimalist palette and quiet skincare luxury for the haute woman.

According to Paris-based Store Design Director at Aesop Marianne Lardilleaux, returning to High Street Armadale holds sentimental significance for the brand in 2026.

Aesop focuses on quality over quantity. Picture: Supplied

“Working on the relocation of our former Armadale store gave us an opportunity to reinterpret the historical salon, one of the places from which Aesop’s earliest ideas and sensibilities emerged,” Ms Ladilleaux said.

“The new store subtly echoes its architectural gestures and may stir memories for some of the neighbourhood’s long-standing residents. This store allows us to acknowledge our history and the timeless values that shaped Aesop.”

Ladilleaux says the store’s design draws on the visual codes of the original Emeis salon without trying to replicate it. A thin stainless-steel frame structures the alabaster façade while the window reveals a nine-metre-high curved wall that seems to float on a shallow water canal.

“Our Paris-based architectural team adopted a two-part approach to make the space practical for consultants and visitors alike.

“To the right you’ll see a series of steps sets a slower rhythm, suited to consultations around the tiled counters and to the left, a ramp leading to the main door allows a faster pace, to welcome the next guests.”

Aesop’s store design director, Marianne Lardilleaux. Picture: Supplied

Subtle accents of art fill the space; they’ve chosen a photographic work by Hoda Afshar which hangs on the wall – honouring the women of the Iranian diaspora in Australia who stand with those persecuted in Tehran.

There’s a 1963 chair by Australian-American sculptor and designer Clement Meadmore that sits beside a 1960 Italian floor lamp in white opaline.

Aesop has always had a presence in Armadale, but the return of a new store allows the brand to welcome customers into a larger and comfortable retail space.  It might be a global beauty brand, but its imprint is firmly earthed in its Melbourne identity.

No two Aesop stores are the same; perhaps that concept alone riffs on the notion of Melbourne as the cool kid who can’t be replicated.

“What has characterised Aesop for the past 40 years is the creation of spaces deeply connected to their surroundings: no two stores are identical, because each design is conceived with respect for the neighbourhood and the culture in which it settles,” Ladilleaux said.

“One might say there is something typically Melbourne about that after all.”

No two Aesop stores are exactly alike. Picture: Supplied

At Aesop’s new Armadale store, the emphasis is on ritual without pace.  They invite customers to browse a range of skin, hair, body and home through a personalised consultation experience.

There are some new product additions – the Solais Replenishing Hand Serum and Resolute Facial Concentrate, the brand’s first retinoid-enriched formulation. In the cluttered world of beauty, Aesop is all about adding quality over quantity.

At last count, Aesop has 25 stores in Victoria, 24 in Sydney, 14 in Queensland and eight in Western Australia – with additional brand presence across many Myer stores across the country.

Just last week it announced a new standalone beauty counter at Auckland International Airport as part of its retail and duty-free area and beauty zone.