Hotel Bellechasse

The Scene

With a prime seat just off the Seine and in the 7th arrondissement, le Bellechasse is surrounded by must-see sights. Get your art fix a few steps away at the Musee d'Orsay or cross the Seine to spend a day at the Louvre. It's also impossible to forget that you're based in chic Saint Germain, filled with restaurants, antiques, and even more sights.

The Concept

Fashion designer Christian Lacroix's second foray into interior design presents an ever-so-slightly more subdued palette but no less inventive design. Where Hotel du Petit Moulin feels more like a rowdy splash into interiors, le Bellechasse is more refined in its execution--though just as daring as its counterpart. Keeping largely with the trend established in du Petit Moulin, Lacroix adorns the walls with fanciful designs loosely based around the three room classes: Discovery, Original, and Privilege. The reception area is deceptively restrained but warm; Lacroix draws you in and then chooses to wow guests with the fantastic breakfast room and "aquarium". The entire area feels as though the décor was stripped straight out of the Louvre to surround you in fanciful elegance.

The Look

The rooms are truly where Lacroix shows off his inspiration, elevating a 19th-century style to 21st century heights. Seemingly disparate but artfully combined images create an enormous collage that adorns the ceilings and walls of the Discovery and Original rooms. In one of the 33 rooms, Lacroix combines brightly colored moths out torn from a 19th century naturalist's notebook and plops them on top of a black and white checker print; in another, traditional navigation symbols are strewn across a sky where constellations have come to life. A different tack is taken in several of the Privilege rooms where Lacroix experiments with color and texture rather than otherworldly designs.

In Short

Lacroix has breathed new life into le Bellechasse with his signature imaginative designs, drawing from history and his own capricious instinct. A heartbeat away from the best sights Paris has to offer, the fashion-forward traveler would be remiss to pass up this Lacroix hideaway.