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A Wonderful Stay at Hotel du Petit Moulin Paris

April 6, 2015 by cheriecity

A stay in Paris doesn’t get much more romantic or magical than at Hotel du Petit Moulin in the stylish Haut-Marais.

Housed in what was once one of the oldest boulangeries in Paris, Hotel du Petit Moulin is the very definition of a hidden gem. Only a few clues give away its hotel status, so it has the intimate feel of a private residence.

Design

The hotel’s charming, 17th-century Parisian architecture is brought to life with creative, otherworldly interiors by renowned couturier Christian Lacroix. It has a petite, maze-like appearance with just 16 rooms and one junior suite all designed uniquely with bold digital prints, catwalk sketches and sumptuous fabrics.

Hotel du Petit Moulin may seem like an independent hotel, however it has two stunning sister hotels that I’ve also had the pleasure of staying at – Pavillon de la Reine on the nearby Place des Vosges and Pavillon des Lettres. A perk of this union is that guests are welcome to use the fantastic Spa de la Reine facilities – it’s definitely worth stopping by for a spot of pampering.

Hotel du Petit Moulin has a beautifully-designed lounge with a cosy reading nook as well as an Honesty Bar where breakfast is served in the morning. Even the corridors have cool design features such as a dress illustration next to our door and monochrome polka-dot carpet that made me think of Yayoi Kusama.

The Room

Our Deluxe Room on the third floor was truly atmospheric with an exquisite moon and stars digital print above the bed and soft gold walls. The popular Moon and Stars Room is often requested by returning guests and I can see why they’ve fallen in love with it.

Room features include a comfy queen-size bed covered in sumptuous linen, large Samsung LCD TV, writing desk, Lacroix illustrated notepad, minibar, air-conditioning, a complimentary bottle of mineral water and free wifi.

The room is unexpectedly spacious with a living area covered entirely with black and white toile de Jouy fabric, offset with pop-style orange felt swivel chairs. The open wardrobe with plenty of hanging and storage space can also be sectioned off with a curtain and even the light switches have the toile de Jouy pattern for that total immersion effect.

I also loved that some wall edges are covered in mirrors (I never imagined how handy they would be) and that the bedside lights have a sensor, so you simply give them a regal wave to dim or switch off the light, rather than scrambling for the switch.

Most Paris hotel rooms that I’ve stayed in usually feel very contemporary, so it was a real pleasure to look up at the ornate cornice above the bed and fling open the traditional windows to the sounds of the street below in the morning.

The Bathroom

The large bathroom has an urban-country feel with cream painted wood-panelled walls, black slate tiles, a deep claw-foot bathtub with shower, extra-wide towels and face cloths, thick bathrobes, slippers and a set of Hermès Eau d’Orange Verte bathroom products.

Breakfast

After a blissful night’s sleep (and a glorious lie-in), we headed down the bar for a typically Parisian breakfast. The colourful bar has a vintage French feel with a trompe l’oeil statement wall and a traditional zinc bar.

We were served a generous morning feast of fruit salad, French set yoghurt, artisan baguette with President butter and cheese and a basket full of exquisite pastries, with Mariage Frères Earl Grey tea and freshly-squeezed orange juice.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a table with cereal, nuts and fresh fruits that you can help yourself to. Breakfast is 16 Euros per person and is definitely worth ordering to start the day feeling happy and well-fed – it can also be taken in the comfort of your room.

As Hotel du Petit Moulin is a small hotel, there’s no restaurant, however you can indulge in room service with a menu of French classics such as onion soup and confit duck from a good neighbourhood bistro.

The Marais

The Marais is a haven for foodies, so you don’t need to stray too far for a memorable meal. Nearby, you can find American neo-diner Rachel’s, Grazie by merci, Le Mary-Celeste cocktail bar, historic foodie spot Le Marché des Enfants Rouge and my two new favourites Profiterole Chérie and Riviera-inspired tapas bar Les Nicois.

This hip part of the Marais is also home to some of the city’s best art galleries, independent boutiques and discount stores for French designer brands such as Alaïa, Zadig & Voltaire and Sandro. It’s quickly become my favourite part of Paris to stay in for a romantic, relaxing break.

Hotel du Petit Moulin is the perfect urban bolthole that makes you feel immersed in Parisian life. If you love the Marais, fashion and plenty of privacy, this is the place you should call home when in Paris.

Stays at Hotel du Petit Moulin from €195 per room per night, based on two sharing on a B&B basis. www.hotelpetitmoulinparis.com: +33 1 42 74 10 10.

Chérie City was a guest of Hotel du Petit Moulin

All photos by Chérie City

Accessories, Designers, Fashion, Hotels, Hotels - Luxury, London, London Fashion Week, Restaurants, Shopping

Chloé Debuts at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

January 29, 2015 by cheriecity

It’s rare that I write about hotel packages, but Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London’s partnership with French fashion maison Chloé is just too fabulous not to share.

I can’t resist a luxury fashion and hotel collaboration when it’s done well and the Chloé Debuts package is a cut above the rest. In celebration of London Fashion Week, hotel guests can own the Drew handbag ahead of the shows and enjoy a limited edition Chloé afternoon tea at The Rosebery with Chloé champagne cocktails.

The package also includes one night’s accommodation for two in an elegant Knightsbridge Turret Suite, à la carte breakfast for two, personalised service at Chloé on Sloane Street to receive the Chloé Drew bag, plus a bottle of Chloé Love Story perfume.

As someone who owns almost every Chloé fragrance, I’m interested to see if the special champagne cocktails will be inspired by notes in the fragances (a current cocktail trend in London) or the colours and shapes of the new collections. Either way, they’re sure to be refined and feminine, befitting their exquisite surroundings in The Rosebery.

In addition to the hotel package, there will be a mannequin showcasing the fashion collection in the Lobby, plus two vetrines displaying the Drew bag in a number of colours and patterns.

Drew is a delicate, modern saddlebag with round, sculpted lines, sumptuous leather, a knotted fob chain and horseshoe pivots – available in three sizes. Who could resist?

Do you love hotel and fashion brand partnerships? Which is your favourite fashion-inspired afternoon tea at a luxury hotel?

The Chloé Debuts accommodation package starts from £1,568 and is valid from 12th February to 9th March. For more information and booking, visit: www.mandarinoriental.com/london

Designers, Hotels, Interviews, Paris

Interview with Designer Olivier Lapidus

September 20, 2013 by cheriecity

Hotel Felicien opens its doors for the first time this week in Paris’ chic 16th arrondissement. French couture designer Olivier Lapidus tells Chérie City all about his design process behind the sleek new boutique hotel…

Why were you particularly drawn to this project?

In my career as a fashion designer, I have always enjoyed combining new, high-tech materials with more traditional fabrics, and using innovative methods with age-old crafts. When I was approached to design Hotel Felicien, I saw the opportunity as a way to continue this approach; I was able to use innovative materials such as optic fibre fabrics and light panels with traditional materials such as leathers, metals, ceramics and wool.

For me, interior design was a natural progression from fashion design, and I was able to apply a lot of my experience as a fashion designer to designing Hotel Felicien; the optical fibre fabrics I used in my illuminated couture dresses have become the optical fibre curtains in the Hotel Felicien, the hand painted silk materials I used to create unique bespoke clothing, have become artworks on the hotel walls.

Do you approach hotel design in a similar way to couture?

Fashion and interior design have many things in common; there is a craftsmanship, a tradition, a history as well as a technological element to both. I was able to use my experience working with textiles when designing the interiors of Hotel Felicien; the curtains, rugs, carpets, drapes, fabric panels on the walls; interior design is like the cousin of fashion design!

Designing furniture was a new challenge; but as with handbags or luggage, there is a harmony between metal and leather/fabric, so I found that interior and fashion design go hand in hand.

What is the personality of Hotel Felicien?

Hotel Felicien is like a whole other world. I think it’s different to other hotels because it stems from the world of fashion and couture, so has a strong focus on quality materials and textiles, shapes and colours. I think Hotel Felicien will appeal to people with a love for great design and quality materials.

Lovers or art and fashion will feel at home at the Felicien. The couture designers with whom I have worked for the last 20 years have created the embellished hand-painted silk art works in the rooms, each work is exclusive. Each painting, each ambiance has been created with an obsessive attention to detail to ensure that the client receives the upmost in quality and comfort.

How can guests expect to feel during a stay at Hotel Felicien?

Pure comfort. My background in textiles has given me an appreciation for the way fabrics and materials can make you feel in your surroundings. The fabric wall panels in the bedrooms ensure a peaceful stay; all excess noise is absorbed, the leather flooring on the ground floor means you can kick off your shoes and feel luxury underfoot, whilst the pure wool rugs in the bedrooms mean you can hop straight out of bed and feel as if you’ve slipped on your favorite pair of slippers.

Guests can expect to feel consistently stimulated by their surroundings; the décor of the hotel evolves from floor to floor. Each floor has its own identity and specific colour palette, but the consistent attention to detail and quality materials in each room creates coherence throughout the hotel. I always say, after staying at the Felicien, there’s no need to try out another hotel, just head to a different floor!

How important is functionality when designing a hotel?

Every detail has been designed with the client in mind; from the softness of the lighting in the showers to the height of the bed side tables, everything has been calculated to ensure you are as comfortable and relaxed as possible at all times. The materials used for the furniture and carpets have been selected from around Europe to ensure they are of the highest quality; upholstery from the South of France, pure wool rugs from Ulster, Ireland. Each visual, tactile detail has been calculated precisely for the well being of the client.

Did you experience any difficulties or set-backs when applying your vision to the building?

The design of the hotel has taken three years to complete, from the original conception of the design, to sourcing the materials and installing the fittings and furniture. Interior design has had a lot in common with the process of creating a couture piece; understanding the customer, finding the highest quality materials, being specific and paying attention to every detail. For this reason, I found the actual designing and creation of the hotel exciting, rather than difficult.

The main difficulties came in the practicalities of applying my vision to the building that we had chosen to be transformed into Hotel Felicien. Constructing a swimming pool underground in the basement, under the level of the Seine, was a real challenge, but luckily Vincent Bastie, the architect in charge of the product, has been excellent in finding solutions to these logistical problems.

What do you like most about the experience of staying in a hotel?

I’ve spent much of my professional life in hotels, but my passion for travelling and hotels began when I was just ten years old, when I accompanied my father on his travels around Asia.

I love the effect a hotel can have on your experience of a new place. When you are away from home, every detail in a hotel counts; the atmosphere, the first contact with the hotel staff, the reception, the smile, the lift, the curtains, the feeling of the floor beneath your bare feet, the comfortable bed. I love that hotels bring all these details together, like a puzzle, to create one atmosphere and feeling. Like an impressionist painting made up of tiny details, but creating one picture, the details in a hotel are essential in creating an atmosphere that welcomes and stimulates the customer.

Finally, where are your favourite places in Paris to…

Eat:
Le Stresa – 7 Rue Chambiges, 75008 Paris

Drink:
Carette – 4 Place du Trocadéro, 75016 Paris

Shop:
Colette – 212 Rue Saint Honoré, 75001 Paris

See Art and Culture:
Grand Palais – 21 Avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 75008 Paris
Petit Palais – Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris

Relax:
The Felicien of course!

Hotel Felicien, an Elegancia Hotel, is now open. Double rooms start from €199 per night; for further information or to book a room, visit: www.hotelfelicienparis.com or call +33 1 55 74 00 00.

Hotel Felicien – 21 rue Felicien David, 75016 Paris, France.

Hotels, Hotels - Design, Paris

A Great Stay at La Maison Champs Élysées Paris

March 4, 2012 by cheriecity

The prestigious ‘Golden Triangle’ in Paris is lined with opulent palace hotels, but La Maison Champs Élysées, designed by Maison Martin Margiela, proposes an alternative vision of luxury.

Surreal, irreverent and poetic, La Maison Champs Élysées is a wonderland full of surprises for discerning fashion, art and design lovers. This is Maison Martin Margiela’s first hotel collaboration and the Belgian fashion brand has designed the public spaces and 17 rooms and suites as part of the Couture Collection. Themes presented in Margiela’s long career are prominent in the designs for the hotel, which undoubtedly celebrates ‘the art of living’.

Location

Just last year, this Haussmann Parisian townhouse was transformed into a fashion-led boutique hotel. A member of Design Hotels™, La Maison Champs Élysées is nestled on a quiet street, just a few steps from the Avenue Montaigne, Champs Élysées and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

History

Built in 1866, No.8 rue Jean Goujon was originally the townhouse of the Princess of Essling and has passed through the hands of various French nobility. It was later named La Maison des Centraliens, after its former inhabitants, the alumni of the École Central des Arts et Manufactures. In fact, the 5th and 6th floors are still used by La Maison des Centraliens.

Arrival

On first impressions, La Maison Champs Élysées looks more like a contemporary art gallery than a hotel, with the welcoming staff tucked neatly inside a tinted mirror parallelepiped at the centre of the room.

The Couture Suite

The Maison Martin Margiela-designed rooms are accessed from a separate lift and we were kindly assigned a spectacular Couture Suite on the fourth floor. Each suite is denoted by the name of a writer, rather than numbers, which may come as a surprise given Margiela’s penchant for numerically appointed clothing labels.

Our suite was like the apartment of our dreams – an irreverent mix of styles and eras. The stripped-wood floors creaked authentically and the plain white walls were illustrated with a trompe l’oeil design, depicting the faded glamour of a palace from centuries gone by.

It features a minimalist sitting room with two Dali-esque oversized chairs and a brand new iMac, separated from the bedroom by large sliding partitions. The bedroom is a cultural den with more art books and French classics than you could possibly read during a stay, unless you’re a literary machine like Karl Lagerfeld! What a rare treat to be surrounded by shelves of beautiful books when away from home.

The natural, textured Vosges bed linen is pure Margiela and gives the feeling of being enveloped in one of those signature white cotton seat covers. The bed is one of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in and I loved the silver boxes that opened to become reading lamps.

Complimentary Extras

Generous complimentary amenities include free wifi access on an iMac, free movies and a complimentary minibar on the first night. These small but significant touches make your room feel like a home away from home, which is undoubtedly a godsend for frequent travellers.

The Bathroom

The spacious bathroom was covered in tiny beige mosaic tiles and included a deep bathtub and a separate shower around the corner. We had use of generously-sized verbena bathroom amenities, plenty of fluffy towels, embroidered terrycloth bathrobes and two pairs of slippers in white and black (another reference to the monochrome theme).

The separate toilet at the other end of the hallway was covered entirely in stacked magazines – a witty take on reading in the toilet, perhaps? Another humorous touch was the eggs dotted around the suite, acting as doorstops.

A Welcome Treat

At turndown, there was a plate of macarons waiting on the table as an evening snack. That evening, the bed was our island as we watched film after film, flicked through the selection of books and enjoyed the use of the minibar. You can even hook up a keyboard and use the internet in bed!

In the morning, we had a tour of the hotel to explore the other guest rooms and see the full extent of MMM’s creativity. The suite designed entirely in black is impressive and boasts a cabinet full of artworks and oddities, however I did prefer our all-white suite. The boutique rooms are peaceful and cosy, with the same great bathrooms, but they don’t have the Margiela design stamp. For the full avant-garde experience, a Couture Room is the way to go.

La Table de Huit

However, there is a whole world of interesting design touches to discover in the public areas. Restaurant La Table de Huit, overseen by Chef Benoît Hilaire, is bright and calming with MMM’s signature cotton covered chairs. Hilaire’s menu focuses on a personal interpretation of French classics with a modern freshness.

Hotel Artwork

Walking past the restaurant towards the lift for the boutique rooms, the silver corridor felt instantly cool and clinical, as though entering a futuristic science laboratory. A faint buzzing noise and a large illuminated diamond installation provided an eerie sensory experience.

It was a stark contrast to the ornate gilt staircase with an imperial eagle at the foot and the reference to Maison Martin Margiela’s fashion heritage with the untouched dressmaking mannequins.

The Black Cigar Bar

The Black Cigar Bar is a sleek, scorched wood bar designed entirely in black, representing the negative contrast to the White Lounge. In this relaxing, club-style space, fine whiskeys and Cuban cigars are the order of the day. To create an exclusive experience, the Black Cigar Bar is reserved for Havana-smokers only and cigarette smokers may use the terrace.

The White Lounge

The White Lounge is the perfect place to sit and relax over tea and a pasty or an apéritif. MMM subverts the expected proportions of the room with low suspended lightbulbs, low mirrored tables and those anonymous cotton covered chairs. The taxidermy birds in glass cases bring a touch of irony to an otherwise sober room.

Staying at La Maison Champs Élysées is a truly unique, aesthetically rewarding experience, yet still comfortable and accessible. The staff are friendly and laid-back, leaving you to experience the hotel for yourself, yet responding swiftly to any queries. Staying true to Margiela’s work, La Maison Champs Élysées offer a sense of comfort with a surreal flourish. It’s the hotel that keeps captures the imaginaton!

Cherie City was a guest of and La Maison Champs Élysées.

For more Paris hotel ideas, read my review of:

Edinburgh, Hotels - Design, Hotels - Luxury, Milan, News, Paris

The Best Fashion Hotels in Europe

March 19, 2010 by cheriecity

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.