Style in the City - Milan
The latest trend in the hotel world is beautifully bespoke buildings from some of the biggest names in fashion, who are as happy to light up the sidewalks as they are catwalks. Chic fashion hotels are popping up around the world with the regularity of new It-Bags, but most can be found in Italy, unsurprisingly so perhaps given the national obsession with cutting a bella figura at all times. No less surprisingly, as the country’s fashion capital, Milan is home to some of the best.
Little wonder then, that Giorgio Armani has picked this city for the opening of his first European hotel. “I feel a very special involvement in the project for the Armani Hotel Milano, as it is located here, in my home town,” Armani told Vogue UK. “Every aspect of the hotel is a reflection of my aesthetic philosophy… I believe the hotel’s design will perfectly fit the spirit of Milan as a capital of style, whilst offering a new experience of hospitality within its fashion district.”
Due to open early next year, on the Via Manzoni, one of the most prestigious streets in Milan’s fashion district, the hotel will apply the Armani principle of elegance at all times in 95 luxurious guest rooms, a gourmet restaurant and an indulgent spa. If it’s anything like the first Armani hotel in Dubai, it promises to reflect those qualities that this modern classic brand is loved for – timeless style, an understated colour palette, fine fabrics and serious attention to detail.
Although there are a few months to go before Armani opens its hotel doors, there are, as you’d expect in a city saturated with a diversity of design, other brand hotels to sample in the meantime. Maison Moschino, reflecting the company’s more avant-garde design ethos, is laced with fantasy, and is altogether more fanciful than the planned Armani hotel. Many rooms at the Maison are inspired by fairytales: Little Red Hiding Hood, Alice in Wonderland… For those that live, breathe and dream fashion, there’s the Sleeping in a Ballgown room, with a dress surely designed for a princess hanging behind the bed. Surrealism is taken seriously here, as is everything else.
The kitchen is under the direction of a chef as creative as the brand’s designers and the bar features lights crafted from stilettos, but the rooms are as comfortable as they are creative, and the spa, bedecked with leather daybeds, excels at massages and meticulous manicures, a must in Milan, that most polished of cities.
Adding further shine to Milan’s glossy finish is the Hotel Bulgari, just as this brand’s fabulous jewellery enhances a tailored outfit. Their hotel is sleek, modern and luxurious, in perfect contrast to the eighteenth-century palazzo that houses it. The rooms are refined, and as one would expect from Bulgari, make full use of precious materials – teak and oak aplenty here. Many have balconies with views of the gardens, and the Bulgari Suite on the penthouse floor has a 90-metre terrace with stunning views of both the gardens and the city. This suite – which has hosted almost as many VIPs as the city’s famous fashion shows – also boasts a sumptuously appointed living room with leather couches and oriental carpets that gleam jewel-bright in the subtle surroundings. And of course, the bars, restaurant and spa at this gem of a hotel are absolutely dedicated to the sort of serious pampering every serious shopper needs in between shows and shops.
With this kind of dedication to style and commitment to comfort, it’s clear that Milan’s hotels take haute couture just as seriously as the city’s fashionable inhabitants and visitors do.
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22-03-2011
