Skip the standard souvenirs: the boutique hotel experts at Mr & Mrs Smith have rounded up their top stays for stellar shopping around the world. So pack your bags (or just fill them up once you arrive). Here are four of their favourite places to travel in style…
Nomad Hotel, New York City
Set in the garment district of the style capital of the world, Nomad Hotel debuted this spring to the kind of sartorial attention typically reserved for fashion week. French designer Jacques Garcia modelled each room in the Beaux Arts beauty after Paris apartments, giving his fittingly named Atelier rooms deep claw-foot tubs with Madison Avenue views. The Fashion Institute of Technology is only a few blocks, but jet-setting guests don’t even have to leave the building in search of style: the lobby is home to the country’s first outpost of Maison Kitsuné, the ultra-stylish French boutique.
Jia, Shanghai China
Gotham-like Shanghai is a bustling metropolis of gleaming skyscrapers, whizzing cars and futuristic fashion. Jia sits in the midst of Nanjing Road, the city’s epicenter of style. Unpack shopping bags in the spacious, apartment-like suites, order in-room spa treatments to prepare for the day’s pursuits or watch shoppers duck into luxury boutiques from a window table at Issimo, the chic in-house Italian restaurant.
Le Royal Monceau Paris, France
Though guests at this Philippe Starck-designed hotel can reach the Champs Elysées faster than you can say ‘à la mode,’ Paris’s chic set prefer to shop inside the hotel, then linger in the back garden. The in-house boutique, Le Royal Eclaireur, stocks vintage furniture, original art and fashion by cult favourites, including Nicolas Kirkwood and Maison Martin Margiela. Upstairs, the salon-like rooms balance art deco style with irreverent, rock-star accents.
Fasano Rio, Rio De Janiero
They don’t sing about the girl from Ipanema for nothing: the bronzed beauties in Brazil tend to look – and dress – like supermodels. Join their seaside fashion show on the private beach at Rio’s Fasano hotel, where even the swimwear is couture. Bring a different bikini for each day of the week, but don’t worry about sandals: the hotel offers free Havaianas to its sun-worshippers.
Tags: holt renfrew, Holts Muse, Mr & Mrs Smith, shopping
