A
s an aspiring aesthete and latent
Francophile, one of the most
unforgettable memories from my
younger, globetrotting days was
arriving at the Hotel Costes in Paris
in the summer of 1997. It was the era of minimalism:
fashion-wise, the heyday of Prada and Jil Sander —
think Tilda Swinton in I Am Love — and the clean-
lined interiors of Philippe Starck, Andrée Putman
and Christian Liaigre. (Even Anouska Hempel,
queen of the ‘boutique’ hotel, was abandoning the
extravagance of Blakes for her new, white brand
of Zen at The Hempel.) Passing through the front
doors of the Costes, however, was an altogether
different experience. As my eyes adjusted to the
low-lit interior, I was immersed in the buttoned
and bullion-fringed world of Napoleon III. A series
of small but opulent salons and conservatory-like
galleries exuded personal style as they wrapped
around a Neo-Renaissance courtyard. The cool tunes
of emerging French DJs were played in this courtyard
for which, among a plethora of other attributes, the
establishment became internationally renowned.
I didn’t know it at the time but I’d just had my first
beguiling brush with the work of French architect and
interior designer Jacques Garcia. His illustrious
career was already decades long but the Costes was
a seminal project. Not only had he taken Napoleon
III, what is essentially a French version of high
Victorian, and made it sexy and cool, his opulent
crafting of its interiors sparked a style revolution
that has reverberated across the design of luxury
hotels, restaurants and private homes ever since.
Steeped in the French tradition, Garcia’s aesthetic
moves back and forth between the evolving grandeur
of the 18th century (he is the go-to person when the
furniture needs to be rearranged at Versailles) and
the Belle Époque. His sophisticated palette, of
course, involves forays into the exotic. One example
is the ancient world, as evidenced in his recent
restoration of the Pompeii-inspired Villa Astor on
the Amalfi Coast. Another is Orientalism, at Paris’s
opium den-like Maison Souquet — touted as the
most romantic hotel in the world — and in his
redesign of the iconic La Mamounia in Marrakech.
There are even pared back (for Garcia) touches of
Art Deco and ’30s modern at the NoMad Hotel in
New York, and another version, albeit more Italian,
at its recently opened sister property in Los Angeles.
The most typical version
of Garcia’s eclectically
cultivated style,
however, usually
embraces, in varying
measures, all
of the above. ››RIGHT French
architect and interior
designer Jacques Garcia
with his mother, Jeanne
Garcia, and their dogs
Olymph and Leon.72 vogueliving.com.au