Fashion hotels are spreading like wild fire and any designer worth their salt has translated their style DNA into interiors and furnishings.
It seems like a no brainer that fashion designers should try their hand at designing hotels. They have commercially proved their innate sense of style and obsessive eye for detail and are already tuned in to their customers’ dreams and aspirations. Plus having a fashion designer on board makes hotels just that little bit more desirable for style conscious travellers.
Claridges, London
Diane Von Fürstenberg is the latest designer to get the interiors bug, as she has redesigned twenty rooms and suites for London hotel Claridges, due to be unveiled in June 2010.
While Diane is the embodiment of all things New York and glam, she has revealed that some of her past collections have been inspired by the hotel’s Art Deco grandeur. There’s no word yet on how the rooms will appear, but my bet is on bold prints and vibrant colours, a copy of her new Proud to be Woman compilation CD and perhaps a remodelled ‘wrap dress’ bathrobe.
Maison Moschino, Milan
Over in Milan, after two years of development, Maison Moschino has finally opened on the Viale Monte Grappa. The surreal, romantic hotel is an ode to Moschino’s design philosophy and is just as flirty, vibrant and striking as their collections.
Designed by Rosella Jardini and the Moschino creative team, the four-storey hotel is located in an old neoclassical railway station dating back to 1840, and offers 54 individually designed rooms and 15 suites. Most of the rooms have whimsical names like Clouds, Rose, Little Red Riding Hood, Sweet and Dress.
The hotel has a theatrical, Alice in Wonderland vibe, with oversized teacup tables, suspended flying bees, handbag lamps, a red dress bed and a surreal four-poster bed overgrown with trees. The room on my wishlist would be the one with a bed of roses and petal-covered chandelier.
The super cool Clandestino restaurant is typically on-trend and innovative with chef Moreno Cedroni’s unusual creation of ‘colourful sushi’. Breakfast is presented as a ‘Mos kit’ – a combination of 4,6 or 8 seasonal combinations inside a ceremonial lacquered box. The restaurant goes through to a garden terrace and the hotel also provides a bar, spa and gym.
Maison Moschino is like the ultimate fashion fantasy world and would be best suited to travellers who like their hotels with modern, ironic touches and an artistic concept rather than traditional luxury.
Hotel Missoni, Edinburgh
Many fashion hotels are as reassuringly as expensive and exclusive as their catwalk looks. As much as I long to, I think I’ll have to befriend a mysterious benefactor before booking into the Armani Hotels in Milan and Dubai, Donatella’s Palazzo Versace, Ralph Lauren’s Round Hill House in Jamaica, Oscar de la Renta’s Tortuga Bay in the Dominican Republic or the chic Bulgari Resort in Bali.
However, don’t be disappointed, as there are equally cool fashion hotels almost on city break route. Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh’s Old Town has been on my hotel wish list since it opened last summer and I’m determined to pay a visit this year.
The seven-storey hotel on George IV Bridge is a vibrant combination of Italian style and Scottish heritage, with Charles Rennie Macintosh chairs and staff wearing custom-made Missoni kilts.
The 136 colour bursting rooms and suites were designed by Rosita Missoni and feature the label’s signature bold patterns and textiles. The rooms include everything you could want for a comfortable stay and they seem to considered how annoying and inhospitable it is to experience a minefield of hidden extras.
All rooms include two items of laundry, local calls, movies, high speed internet, the entire contents of the mini bar and the use of an iPod dock, Nespresso machine and Missoni bathrobe and slippers.
The top floor suite, Rosa, has the best views of the city, overlooking the castle and Rosita Missoni stays there whenever she’s in town.
Hotel Missoni’s first floor restaurant Cucina, a collaboration with Giorgio Locatelli, has become popular with locals and serves up seasonal, contemporary Italian dishes, created by head chef Mattia Camerani.
The bar serves Vestri hot chocolate (exclusively from the renowned Florence chocolate shop) and claims to have the most authentic Italian coffee menu in Edinburgh.
Hotel du Petit Moulin & Hotel Bellechasse, Paris
Over in Paris, Christian Lacroix rules with two bijou residences – Hôtel du Petit Moulin, a former bakery in the Marais and Hôtel Bellechasse on the Left Bank.
Christian Lacroix’s elaborate, theatrical style is stamped all over the two hotels and the individually designed rooms feature painterly scenes, astrological motifs and vibrant illustration. The hotels are odes to diverse academic and cultural influences that have inspired his many collections over the years.
The hotel has a homely, intimate atmosphere and guests can mingle in the exclusive, private bar. At the Hôtel du Petit Moulin, Lacroix’s personal favorite is room 301 – the gold-and-black suite painted with a trompe l’oeil night sky.
At the Hôtel Bellechasse, jewel shades reign alongside sumptuous velvet drapes and beautifully illustrated ancient monuments, insects and playing cards. The dining room is one of the most ornate in Paris and the hotel is just a short walk from the museums and galleries along the Seine.
Lacroix’s decadent hotels would be perfect locations for romantic trips to Paris and a totally unique fantasy experience. With the departure of Christian Lacroix from the fashion world, it really would be like living in a time gone by.