April 13, 2007

Europe | France | Paris

The Marriage of Meurice & Philippe

By Mark Jolly

The hottest hotel designer in the world targets a Parisian icon.

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The most storied palace hotel in Paris is ready for its extreme makeover. globorati can exclusively reveal that Le Meurice, the first arrondisement’s number-one address since 1835, is enlisting the services of Philippe Starck, the design guru whose style virtually defined the “boutique hotel” concept of the 1990s. The legendary Louis XVI-style hotel in the shadows of the Champs-Élysées has hosted celebrities and royalty from the Duchess of Windsor and President Roosevelt to Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor. Salvador Dali, who made Le Meurice his pied à terre for a month a year, once demanded a herd of sheep be brought to his suite, and then proceeded to shoot them (with blank bullets). Yet the arrival of Philippe Starck, who has been commissioned to inject his singular brand of chic minimalism into the grande dame of Parisian hotels may be deemed yet more radical still.

Starck — whose lifestyle hotel designs litter the world from New York (Royalton) to Miami (Delano) to London (St. Martins) and Buenos Aires (Faena) — is also in the spotlight this week with the launch of SLS Hotels. The new luxury brand plans to introduce “a revolutionary experience” in hospitality and will debut its concept in early 2008 by reinventing what is now Le Meridien in Beverly Hills. Coupling Starck’s design vision will be star chef, José Andrés, whose deconstructed dishes at Jaleo and Café Atlantico earned him the appellation of “Washington DC’s tapas king.”