Maison Martin Margiela redecorates Paris hotel La Maison Champs Elysées at 8 rue Goujon, in the historical building of the Maison des Centraliens.
Maison Martin Margiela redecorates Paris hotel La Maison Champs Elysées at 8 rue Goujon, in the historical building of the Maison des Centraliens. Located at the junction of Avenue Montaigne, the Grand Palais and Place de la Concorde, the designer has imagined 17 rooms and suites as well as the reception, restaurant, bar and cigar room, in what is a powerful statement both conceptually and geographically (the hotel is at the centre of a district featuring the world's most prestigious couture houses).
Cerebrally satisfying since its foundation in 1988, it's clear why Maison Martin Margiela were approached – the house has such a strong handwriting you could theorise it, bind it, and sit it on a bookshelf as a sexy, very contemporary branch of philosophy. White paint, deconstruction, trompe l'oeil, reappropriation, the artisanal and, last but not least, pure, dry wit are key characteristics. Another particularly romantic convention is seen when MMM fêtes – think of the red wine served in cheap, white disposable cups that become hedonistically stained.
La Maison Champs Elysées consists of two buildings, one of which dates from the Second Empire under Napoleon III. It was in 1864 that the Duchess of Rivoli, Princess d’Essling, Grand Mistress of the Empress Eugénie’s Household, had this private mansion built, penned by French architect Jules Pellechet. The property was designed in the (now iconic) Haussmann style and finished in 1866.
Decorated within the brand's artistic lineage, expect a huge diamond prism alluding to infinite space (reception), white linen and cotton-covered sofas (the Essling bar), bottle lamps, wool runners printed with English-style parquet and suites with unfinished mouldings.
Yesterday saw the space inaugurated by Paris' adventurous and artistic, hours after Maison Martin Margiela presented its autumn/winter 11 artisanal couture collection. Performance socks were sewn together to make beautiful, odd, sweaters in that fashion show – something the house, under founder Martin Margiela, first did in 1991 with army hose.
Read AnOther's highlights of the Paris Couture collections here.
