Haute couture has
found a new home in a growing collection of luxury hotels branded
by fashion designers like Versace, Armani and Christian Lacroix.
Following is a sampling of fashion-forward properties making
statements across the globe.
The g Hotel
Gallway, Ireland
www.theghotel.ie
The Monogram Hotel Group’s flagship
property, the 101-room g Hotel, was designed by the high-fashion
hatmaker Philip Treacy. Since the early 1990s, Treacy’s elaborate
creations, often more like sculptures than headwear, have been worn
by supermodels sporting the runway collections of the likes of
Valentino and Chanel. The g’s design reflects Treacy’s propensity
for the surreal, as seen in the Pink Salon (above), which can be
booked for private parties of up to 40 people. The property also
offers six “occasion suites,” including a breakout room for up to
100 and a boardroom with a sky lounge, accommodating 20.
Byblos Art
Hotel Villa Amista
Corrubbio, Italy
www.byblosarthotel.com
In the countryside of Valpolicella, a
few miles outside Verona, Italy, lies the 60-room Byblos Art Hotel
Villa Amista, a renovated 15th-century Renaissance villa bedecked
with accoutrements inspired by the Italian fashion label Byblos.
Pieces designed specifically for the hotel are part of the Byblos
Casa collection, the brand’s effort to combine high fashion and
interior design. Furniture was inspired by 16th- and 17th-century
iconography present in Venetian paintings, as well as more modern
influences such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s wooden tables. The hotel
has three meeting rooms, seating 55, 35 and eight people,
respectively.
FASHION FORWARD
The following fashion labels are making their mark in the hospitality industry.
[GEORGIO ARMANI] The 160-room Armani Hotel Dubai is scheduled to open in 2009. Properties in London, Milan and New York City also are planned.
[CHRISTIAN LACROIX] The 17-room Hotel du Petit Moulin and the 34-room Hotel Bellechasse, both in Paris, sport interiors designed by the man himself.
[MISSONI] Due in spring 2009: the 136-room Hotel Missoni Edinburgh in Scotland and the 200-room Hotel Missoni Kuwait.
[BULGARI] The 58-room Bulgari Hotel Milan (Italy) and 59-villa Bulgari Resort Bali opened in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Possible future sites include London, Los Angeles, New York City and Paris. -- K.H.
Palazzo Versace
Dubai
www.palazzoversace.ae
In June 2009, the world’s second
Versace palace (the first being in Gold Coast, Australia) will open
in Dubai Creek, in Dubai’s Culture Village development. Londoners
were the first to view the resort’s extravagant decor, when three
display windows of Harrods department store showcased model rooms
(pictured below) this past May. Plans call for 213 guest suites and
169 private residences, male and female spas, rooftop labyrinth
gardens, Lebanese and Italian restaurants, a
scuba lagoon and a climate-controlled beach with a kind of outdoor
air-conditioning that will guarantee comfortably warm temperatures,
despite the hot desert sun.
Round Hill Hotel & Villas
Montego Bay, Jamaica
www.roundhilljamaica.com
Round Hill’s 36-room Pineapple House,
which offers beachfront 
accommodations (pictured) on the Caribbean Sea,
emerged in 2005 from a $6 million room renovation led by Ralph
Lauren, a longtime resident of one of the property’s villas.
Lauren’s signature classic design is in evidence, with lots of
white (walls, floors, ceiling, drapery) to complement the white
sand outside. Splashes of color come through in furnishings such as
chairs and sofas from Lauren’s Home Collection. The Pineapple House
accommodates events of up to 120 people.