AddThisI'm not attracted to hotels just to make a design statement," veteran couturier Christian Lacroix explains as he sits on one of the beds in his newest creation, the 34-room Hôtel Bellechasse, in Paris's Faubourg St.-Germain. "Remember, in French, the word mode means not just fashion, but a way of life."
Over the past five years, Lacroix—who would have become a theater designer if he hadn't gotten a job at Hermès in the 70's—has had a case of wanderlust, lending his signature colorful, haute whimsy to several you-are-here endeavors, including the 17-room Hôtel du Petit Moulin, which opened last year in the Marais, and the TGV, France's high-speed rail, which he reimagined with acid-toned upholstery and streamlined seats. The jet-setting visionary even redesigned Air France's crew uniforms.
Though Lacroix certainly isn't the first designer to enter the hospitality arena, it suits his genius, which lies in organically connecting his projects to their surroundings. "A hotel should give its own interpretation of the city, the district, and the street onto which it opens," he says. Lacroix realized this imperative at the Petit Moulin by looking to the bohemian neighborhood's numerous art galleries for inspiration, plastering the walls with fanciful paintings, photographs, and even blowups of his own couture sketches.
Appropriate to the genteel Faubourg St.-Germain, the Bellechasse is more high-fashion, with nods to antiquity and sumptuous furnishings and fabrics. "The area is so elegant, and connected to museums," he says of the hotel's proximity to cultural institutions like the Musée d'Orsay. "And the antiques shops around the neighborhood are the best." Thus some of the photo-transfer collages use snippets of old engravings, while others incorporate motifs from ancient sculpture. The interiors depicted in paintings by early Modern masters like Pierre Bonnard inspired Lacroix's decision to use rich colors and textures, from the silk-jacquard–upholstered desk chairs and macassar-wood doors with gleaming brass number plates to the jewel-toned faux leather that covers the hallway walls. "It's my version of the spirit of the city."
