St Tropez has forever held a close affinity with fashion. Ever since Brigitte Bardot first made the small French Riviera town into an overnight celebrity icon with her 1956 film And God created Woman, St Tropez has come to represent the Côte d’Azur’s world renowned ‘chic’ culture.
Indeed the quaint coastal town has a tradition of impassioning the greatest minds in art and fashion, originating in the late 19th Century when great flocks of Fauvist and Impressionist artists arrived upon the glittering sandy shores of St Tropez. In more recent times some of the most significant figures in fashion have further added to this reputation including Kate Moss who is now the face of eponymous luxury bronzing and tanning product St Tropez.
An influx of fashion shops in St Tropez today offer visitors the chance to claim the finest and latest designer products from the home of fashion itself, where none other than Karl Lagerfeld, creative director and head designer of the fashion houses Chanel and Fendi, likes to reside. He is one of the many designers inspired by St Tropez. “I spent many years of my life here,” he said upon the release of his 2013 Saint Tropez Capsule Collection. “I know Saint-Tropez like I know Paris”, even paying tribute to the town in his short film Remember Now.
Lagerfeld once again returns to the French Riviera town in 2015 with his pop-up Chanel boutique in the Hotel La Mistralée, a modern villa in St Tropez on avenue du General Leclerc. St Tropez is in fact at the heart of the modern pop-up boutique culture which has seen several appear in the French Riviera town, of which Chanel’s is the most high-profile.
Private mansion, La Mistralée, features a luxurious garden and a swimming pool with Coco Chanel’s favourite carnation the camellia floating in its centre. Each summer it is the setting of the famous fashion brand’s latest clothing apparel, accessories and beauty products. Contrary to last year’s vibrantly colourful exhibits, Chanel’s 2015 Spring-Summer installations are decidedly monochrome.
The parquet floor is universally painted in burgundy red in homage to Chanel’s iconic handbag interiors, leading visitors through several lavishly decorated rooms before ending in the glass-roofed rotunda verriere. The boutique will remain open to public until October 2015 and is forever a popular feature among local residents and international tourists alike. For more fashion news from the French Riviera, visit the St Tropez House fashion blog.
Alternatively, you can explore some of our designer villas in St Tropez for rent and enjoy a stay among one of the world’s most lively fashion hubs. Villa Zen for example features a wonderful, typically Provençal exterior and interior design, while Villa Paradise features stunning contemporary art work and interior designs to go with its equally beautiful sea views from the top of the Ramatuelle hills.
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