A SAVAGE BEAUTY, 4 Hotels, 5 Nights and the END of THE WORLD that didn’t happen…

At the end of May I went to New York. The main reason was to gather inspiration and of course to catch up with Mark (@MHVogue) and Kristoffer, two dear old friends of mine. It was, as always lovely, I had a fabulous time and the city of New York always gives me new angles and sends me of in new directions. Mark told me for example about how people in the US currently are very fond of the expression “super, super nice!” and I guess it pretty much sums up the trip…

Inspiration is something that is much needed, especially if you, like me, are busy working on the trends and the creative direction of 2012. More specifically Christmas 2012… I stayed at four Hotels during this five days trip. It was by choice, not out of necessity. There is something special about hotels, the nicer one’s at least, and I find a lot of the inspiration for my work at Hotel Chocolat through just experiencing different hotels.

I love the opportunities that staying at a hotel brings, the opportunity to meet people and for people spotting. All the effort that goes in to the experience fascinates me. I started of at On Rivington, not that great in all honesty. The rooms are nice, but that is really it, and the restaurant was closed. It just felt a bit worn down. The second night I stayed at ACE hotel, wish was absolutely lovely. Amazing service and amazing food by lovely people (As it should be, they do have a star in Guide Michelin…) Outside ACE I spotted a tall, skinny and very pretty blond woman in very, very high heels, looking at me and giving me a very sweet smile. It wasn’t until afterwards that I realised who she was – Gwyneth Paltrow – it’s a small world…

The third night I spent at W hotels Times Sq. It was quite interesting, but maybe not my cup of tea. So, I was very happy to move to Soho House for the last two nights. Soho House is as always amazing and it feels like coming home in many ways…

Savage Beauty at The Metropolitan New York

The main event during my stay in NY was the Alexander McQueen Exhibition, Savage Beauty at the Metropolitan Museum. It is an amazing testimony to the creative genius of Lee McQueen and the heritage that he left behind after his death. The exhibition is a must see if you are in NY. Lee once tried to explain and, I guess, defend his aesthetics with the following words:

– People find my things sometimes aggressive. But I don’t see it as aggressive. I see it as romantic, dealing with a dark side of personality.”

Oh, yes… I almost forgot. The big news on CNN and in the US during that week was that the world was about to end. As we all know it didn’t, and it transpired that the cults prophet had done a slight miscalculation – the end of the world is apparently to be expected in 2012. I will however continue to work on Christmas 2012 in the meantime…