July 2023 | Riviera Chic goes next level

Fashion-dressed hotels are having a moment this season and it’s truly mesmerizing.

This summer’s massive wave of new hotel and fashion partnerships make it easy to celebrate your travels from head to toe. After all, whether for 1 day or a 10-day stay, a return to beach vacations sparks new ambitions in style and novelty to look and feel best with ease.

Over the years luxury hotels worldwide were partnering with the world’s top designers to produce exclusive items for their guests. With resort-wear and cruise collections booming, this year the biggest luxury fashion brands made a huge foray into the hotel world by curating and staging the hotel’s interior and exterior design accompanied with exclusive holiday-ready capsule collections.

After all, we buy into luxury for the fine quality and design expertise, so who could know how to pamper you best than the best. These collaborations offer an opportunity to get your hands on exclusive limited-edition luxury pieces to enjoy a wonderland of exciting and fun aesthetics for your eyes only.

Iconic brands Bulgari and Armani have led the way in this sector with their own branded hotels in Milan and Dubai respectively. Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, in fact, may be the fashion world's most successful hotel venture to date. However, a whole new generation of collaborations for the summer season 2023 has boomed intergrating a broader lifestyle hospitality experience.

Christian Dior has made undeniably the most extravagant and impressive entrance this year, as the luxury brand has partnered with multiple popular beach resorts around the globe including Saint-Tropez, Bali, Seoul, Phuket, Kyoto, Malaysia and Capri.

Dioriviera has arrived at One and Only Desaru Coast, bringing the storied French fashion house’s emblematic style and motifs to Ember Beach club. In Como, Italy, Dior has constructed an entire floating café next to their pop-up in the legendary Lake Como hotel, Villa d’Este. Café Dior is furnished with spectacular toil de Jouy parasols and chaise longues from the Dioriviera collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri while the setting is completed with a signature jet across the sparkling pool floor, where guests can relax and enjoy their Italian dream. While 6000 miles away from Italian lands, in idyllic Beverly Hills Hotel in sunset Boulevard, Dior’s takeover of the hotel pool area is a real statement of art. The idyllic scenery will be open now through September 4, 2023. What better ending to a Dior Dream in a sunny day than a Dior dessert served from a Dior ice cream cart?

Away from the hustle and bustle of the city of Paris, the tranquil Loulou a Ramatuelle restaurant, located on Pampeelonne beach in Saint Tropez, welcomed Gucci Summer Stories on their beach for a special setting to celebrate summer in the timeless destination of Saint-Tropez.

But that’s not the only pop up gem in Pampeelonne beach. Close by Loulou, in Indie Beach, Simon Porte Jacquemus makes his statement, with citrus-hued sun beds and parasols and an amazing pop-up beach boutique made of stone and wood. The on-site retail boutique in Route de Bonne Terrasse in Ramatuelle, which will be open until October, showcases Jacquemus’ latest Été capsule collection, featuring a range of exclusive straw hats, gold earrings and necklaces, and new versions of the iconic Chiquito and Le Bisou bags.

Mandarin Oriental properties worldwide are renowned for their discreet service, world-class amenities and streamlined, Asian-influenced aesthetics. Throughout the years, the hotel group has boasted quite a few firsts in surprising the guests with luxury products and collaborations. This time MO welcomes fashion label Louis Vuitton to Bodrum with a popup boutique and the charming transformation of Mandarin Oriental Bodrum’s Blue beach. Inspired by the Maisons new “By the Pool” collection, the charming branded store feels fresh and grounding at the same time, as it’s made with natural materials. There you can get yourhands on men’s and women’s clothing and accessories with Louis Vuitton’s signature detailing. Louis Vuitton has also released the new City Guide for Bodrum to its popular city guide series.

There seems to be a nostalgia and charm of vintage luxury aesthetics through outdoor products as well. The combination of classic elegance with modern ease of use is a must in all ways. Inspired by a love for relaxation and a dedication to quality, brands like Business and Pleasure, Oliver James Lilos and Sun of a Beach create timeless, durable, and beautiful outdoor pieces that become cherished companions for years to come.

While it is often thought that, as you get older, the sensible approach is to live in less and take refuge in peaceful vacations, I believe that the older we get the more we need short breaks of fresh and lively surroundings as well as the excitement of new-style amenities. So give it a try – it’s more fun and definitely more fabulous.

ELENI NODARAKI

Creative Editorial Director

Write to me on eleni@decorationrunway.com