Unless you are a die-hard fan of Martin Margiela, you probably wouldn’t know that he actually designed a hotel and restaurant in Paris. I wanted to check it out, so when I was in Paris I ventured over to Champs des Elysees and a small sidestreet where the hotel, appropriately called “The Maison des Champs Elysees” stands. It’s got 57 rooms so a bit big for a boutique hotel, and the rooms are extremely minimal…..and white. What a surprise! It’s Martin Margiela, after all! I was perfectly happy with The Mandarin Oriental hotel so didn’t book or go into the rooms. But they did have a restaurant and bar, called “Le Table 8” and that I could wander into freely as a curious consumer…
日本でも今だに熱烈なファンが多く、先のコラボシリーズでも大いにメディアを賑わせたマルタン・マルジェラ。しかしそのマルジェラがデザインしたホテルとレストランがパリにあることを知っている人はどれほどいるだろうか。事実、今回のパリ滞在中に見学させて頂いた私も今回このことを聞いて驚いたものだ。そのホテルというのは、シャンゼリゼ通りからすこし離れた小道を進むと突如姿を現すThe Maison des Champs Elyseesと名付けられたもの。客室数57の、パリでは比較的大きなブティックホテルだ。そして肝心のそのデザインはというと、もちろん一環したミニマルスタイルで、どこまでいっても真っ白だったのが印象的だった。そして同じくこの建物内に作られたレストラン&バーLe Table 8にもお邪魔させて頂いた。
(As an aside, talking about Martin Margiela I am reminded of a teacher at Bunka Fashion College when I was there who was the BIGGEST MM fan. I saw his interview in a bilingual magazine as a part of a column called “Fashion Victim”. So anyways, he was obsessed with MM and had a huge collection…it was all he would wear. He had them meticulously stored in his tiny apartment under a canvas cloth..white, of course. On campus no one knew his real name, everyone referred to him as “Margiela-sensei”. I have no idea if he still works there or if he still buys MMM clothes since he’s not at the brand anymore. Anyway, this has nothing to do with anything so I digress…)
I went at about 3 or 4pm so the restaurant was pretty much empty save for a man and woman having a business meeting and two nouveau riche ladies having a big late lunch. It was pleasant and quiet. The chairs were all of random and varying sizes and styles and all covered in sheets like the place was getting ready to be painted. The table closest to the entrance was huge, like something The Mad Hatter would sit in in “Alice in Wonderland”. Then the tables and chairs in the center all appeared to be “floating” off the floor- very supernatural. Naked body forms line the hallway and the corridor that leads to the rooms was walled in curtains.
I wasn’t hungry so I settled on a cafe latte with soy…but they were out of soy so normal milk had to do. It wasn’t too expensive, maybe 5 or 6 euros and was quite substantial and frothy in a milkshake glass. It was a quick in and out and snap of the camera. Next time I would surely like to try a meal here because I am a vain fashion sheep like that. But not a victim. Yet. Baah!