La Maison Champs-Elysées

Paris

Paris, the city of light and a symbol of French art de vivre, is also the capital of luxury and high fashion, and no other quarter of the city best embodies this notion than the famous “golden triangle.”

Bordered by the Champs-Elysées, and the avenues Montaigne and George V, it is one of the most visited quarters in the city. And although the Champs-Elysées which runs from the Place de la Concorde to the Arch of Triumph owes its nickname of “the most beautiful avenue in the world” to the incredible perspective it offers from the Louvre, it’s the luxury boutiques, theatres, cinemas, palace hotels, automobile showrooms and airline offices that give the quarter its identity.

Famous throughout the world, visitors come here to admire the elegant boutiques of renowned fashion designers, attend an exhibit at the Grand Palais or take in a play at the Champs-Elysées, Marigny or Rond Point theatre.Prestigious hotels, chic restaurants, cinemas, bars, cafes and trendy nightclubs attract as many Parisians as tourists. Day or night, the quarter is always active and remains an enclave of luxury, and a reflection of the elegance and Parisian chic which has earned the French capital its reputation.

Like being at home

Originally a private home, La Maison Champs-Elysées is a new kind of boutique-hotel. Built in 1866 for the Princess of Essling, the building was purchased to house the activities of former graduates of the prestigious Central School.

Located in the heart of the golden triangle, a few steps from the prestigious Champs-Elysées, this former private home is now a luxury hotel decorated by theillustrious Maison Martin Margiela. By blending different styles and eras, the fashion house created a surprising, luxurious but relaxed space, with lots of amusing and off the wall details, like a ceiling identical to the carpet facing it, or a decor reproducing in black and white the salons on the 2^nd floor. This original artwork is ideally illustrated by the parallelepiped with smoked glass mirrors that serves as the reception office.

In the rooms and the suites,each of which bears the name of an illustrious former student of the Central School, the decor has even more optical illusions and surprising details. In the Housse Blanche (White Cover) Suite, we find large panels of stretched white cotton, a lamp dressed in a white jacket, paintings covered with white sheets and even a cordless phone with a cotton cover.

In the Moulures Interrompues (Interrupted Moldings) Suites, the walls are covered with wood moldings in different shades of white and beige haphazardly scattered about, and in the Cabinet de Curiosités (Curiosity Cabinet) Suite, dedicated to French writer and musician, Boris Vian, everything is black from floor to ceiling, with works found in flea markets or created by the Maison Margiela itself. Original and provocative, the Maison Margiela breaks with its own traditions by proposing an avant-garde space where the guest’s comfort is far from overlooked.

Black is also dominant in the smokers’ space and the piano of the White Salon, whereas white is the primary tone for the Table du Huit restaurant, which plays with contrasts like its oversized doors and moldings and its canvasses representing false ceilings.

On the concrete floor, the furniture created by the fashion house, seems to be floating, like for example, the square tables with a mat colored metal base that creates the optical illusion of weightlessness. The dining decor includes an immense glass dome facing a vegetal wall. Guests can enjoy the refined cuisine prepared by Chef Benoît Hilaire while seated comfortably in an armchair or a wing chair for a classic touch.

And, weather permitting, there’s the garden terrace, for a thoroughly relaxing and green moment, almost forgetting that the Avenue Montaigne and the Champs-Elysées are just a few steps away.

« We call it La Maison because we want our guests to feel truly at home.”