Sarti Story

During the 1980s Celia Coate, now Director of Sarti, learnt the ropes of fashion marketing, working for organisations such as Sportsgirl, Lancôme, and Florsheim.

After 1988 Celia moved into the world of fine tailoring and in 1990 started up her own tailoring business, ‘Coate and Tails’, from within David Jones’ Melbourne store. The business handled all the adjustments and repairs for David Jones’ suit department as well as producing fine quality, hand made bespoke suits for David Jones’ customers.

During this period Celia also ran her ‘Coate of Arms’ tailoring studio in Collins Street which later moved to Georges until Georges closed for the second time in 1999.

In 2001 Celia combined her Italian language skills, love of the Italian creative aesthetic, and business savvy to open Sarti (meaning ‘tailor’ in Italian) on the corner of Little Collins Street and Russell Place, Melbourne.

Celia was the founder of Sarti Restaurant and Bar, an unique concept, running both businesses side by side until 2005. “It actually brought me and what I do to people’s notice. I can’t measure that and its worth but it was difficult to run because you had two very different businesses running along side each other in the same space,” says Celia.

Sarti moved to Little Collins Street proper in October 2002 were it remains to this day.