Fashion & hospitality
A taste for the finer things in life, combined with extensive professional travels around the world, have given creators and designers new ideas. An increasing number of fashion and lifestyle brands have been tempted by the hotel business. Italy's Ferragamo and Spain's Camper were the first to make their move. A number of French brands soon followed suit. The investment is often colossal, and the hotel business is a long-term commitment, but the adventure seems irresistible. So, are hotels the new spearhead of lifestyle? In any case, the movement is well underway.
The idea is not new. We remember Camper's astonishing opening of a hotel in Barcelona in 2004, followed by a second in Berlin seven years later. At the time, the Spanish shoe manufacturer was clearly demonstrating its approach: to diversify and strengthen its image. The same was true of all the brands that followed suit.
From fashion collections to a hotel collection
Frédéric Biousse, who has long overseen the destinies of ready-to-wear brands (Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot), has also branched out. He started out in the restaurant business (he is a shareholder in the Big Mamma trattoria group) and art galleries, before plunging into hospitality. With his partner Guillaume Foucher, he fell in love with places as intimate as they were refined, and ended up opening them up to others. It all began with a property in the Luberon that they eventually transformed into a hotel: the Domaine de Fontenille, enriched by an agricultural project for social reintegration and artists' residences. It gave its name to what has become a hotel group, comprising Les Bords de Mer, in Marseille, Les Hortensias du Lac, in Hossegor, 70 Hectares & l'Océan, in Seignosse, Les Hautes Mers, on Yeu Island, and two addresses in Menorca. Domaines de Fontenille recently scored a coup with Domaine de Primard, Catherine Deneuve's former home in Normandy and the object of much desire. "It's another idea of luxury: time, space and meaning, everything we dream of today," says Frédéric Biousse of his homes. There are also whispers that, under his wing (he keeps a foot in fashion via investment fund Experienced Capital), brands such as Sessùn and L:A Bruket are ready to take the plunge.
Another ready-to-wear player, Thierry Gillier, founder of Zadig & Voltaire, took the plunge two years ago. The brand hides behind the Château Voltaire hotel on rue Saint-Roch. Under the leadership of artistic director Franck Durand and ultra-bankable French architectural duo Festen, the label's former administrative headquarters has become a 5-star hotel with a guesthouse feel. We could also mention, of course, the Zannier family, who have left the cut-throat world of fashion to imagine a hospitality Christian Lacroix and Stella Cadente, who have left the catwalks to focus on hotel decoration...
Those who have changed profession
Patrick Pariente, ex-boss of Naf Naf, is also about to put down a pawn in the Paris Monopoly with his impressive Grand Mazarin, in the heart of the Marais district. This will be the fifth in a collection that began ten years ago. "It all began with a combination of circumstances," recount her daughters and collaborators, Leslie Kouhana and Kimberley Cohen. A chalet in Courchevel, the family stronghold, intended as a second home, became the group's first 5-star property in 2013; its operation was entrusted to Oetker, the family that owns Le Bristol and other palaces around the world. In the process, the self-taught entrepreneur caught the bug and three other houses followed: Crillon le Brave, Lou Pinet, in Saint-Tropez, and Le Coucou, in Méribel.When we were little, we used to talk about rags at the dinner table, but now we talk about bedrooms," confides Leslie. In the end, it's more or less the same job. It requires attention to detail, a talent for staying ahead of trends and a keen eye for consumer trends. The only difference is that we design our premises in the same way we used to design our family homes."In ten years, Maisons Pariente has become a collection... a fashion word. Well, well...
Almost the same approach for Maisons du Monde. This time in the world of interior design. It was a meeting with a retail couple, Céline and Sébastien Meslin (Vicartem Group), that lit the fuse. A first hotel in Nantes, two others in Marseille and La Rochelle embody the universe of the decor brand run by Julie Walbaum. She has chosen to focus on the heart of the city, with very local roots. Her motto:"Here, it's just like home, only better."And if you ever feel like imagining a house like a hotel... it's a win-win situation.
Luxury takes center stage
Leonardo Ferragamo, as daring as Salvatore, was the first to imagine the Lungarno label, which since 1995 has built six exclusive, discreet establishments in Florence and Rome. In his wake are two other Italians. In 2010, fashion designer Armani teamed up with Emaar Properties, a Dubai-based real estate company, to open the first Armani hotel in Dubai. A second followed in Milan, along with luxury hotel residences. Fendi, meanwhile, created sumptuous suites on the floors of its flagship store in Rome, and then commissioned architect Jean Nouvel to design suites inside its foundation, the Palazzo Rhinoceros. And Paris? In September 2021, LVMH was the first to invest in hospitality in the fashion capital, unveiling its Cheval Blanc in the former Samaritaine. Three months later, Bulgari (still LVMH) presented 76 plush suites and a 1,000 m² penthouse, having seeded six initial establishments around the world. This latest opus opened its luxurious doors on Avenue George-V. In the heart of the Golden Triangle, you couldn't do less...
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