Hotels go High Fashion

Fashion designer hotels have proved to have staying power as they continue to expand (Armani, Missoni, Bulgari, etc.). And in April of this year, Fashion 26, a fashion themed hotel in  New York City’s garment district, opened a block away from the Fashion Institute of Technology on West 26th Street. The front desk resembles a fabric cutting table; artwork is made from colorful thread spools, and photography from fashion students hang on the walls. The rooms feature pinstripe fabrics, Frette sheets and, if guests are lucky, views of working garment factories.  And in case the fashion connection isn’t clear, the hotel offers a free upgrade to a “best dressed guest” every day.

Moreover, hotels have sold everything from beds and bathrobes to candles and a variety of home fragrances. Now the Dorchester Collection has taken this one step further by launching fashion accessories – their reasoning being that there is a Dorchester Collection hotel in every major fashion capital.

Celebrated UK milliner, Stephen Jones, became the ‘hotelier’s hatter’, with a collection of Royal Ascot hats inspired by the Dorchester Collection’s new country house estate and spa, Coworth Park (near Ascot, UK), opening in August. Jones created four couture hats which were showcased at Ladies’ Day, during Royal Ascot racing week in June. Each design represented a different aspect of the Coworth Park experience: The “Royal Ascot” hat, for example, is a modern interpretation of a ladies’ dressage hat, reflecting the hotel’s own polo fields and stabling for 40 horses. “The Park”, a peach blossom “branch” in satin and organza reflect the essence of the English countryside.

Taking this one step further the hotel group launched its Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, becoming the first luxury hotel group to award a fashion honor.

The location of the inaugural Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize is London, where over the course of 2010, a panel of judges will award one exceptionally gifted designer, of ready-to-wear or premium accessories, with £25,000, to enable them to create their next collection. The winning designer will also receive accommodation and an event, tailored to their specific needs, at the Dorchester Collection hotel of their choice. The work of the Dorchester Fashion Prize winner must also evoke the spirit of the Dorchester Collection’s sense of “individuality, luxury, style and craftsmanship.”

Want to know more? Visit Jaunted’s Ultimate Guide to Fashion Designer Hotels Around the World