Where to stay when you leave.
Fashion Hotels: A Closer Look at Hotel du Petit Moulin
4/30/2008 at 1:30 PM
Tags: Paris Hotels, Design Hotels, Fashion Hotels, Christian Lacroix
Tight jeans and large sunglasses are what you mostly see entering and exiting The Hotel du Petit Moulin, a 17-room creation from fashion designer Christian Lacroix on Trendy Street, aka rue Poitou, in the middle of Edgy Area, aka the Right Bank's Marais area.
The translation - small windmill - is misleading, because it's actually housed right inside an old boulangerie, or bakery. They've kept the colourful old boulangerie sign outside, which can be confusing if you're not paying attention.
Thankfully, there's no confusing the place for a boulangerie inside - instead of bread it smells strongly of a heady perfume, Chanel no 5 perhaps. Something expensive, anyway.
The downstairs area is tiny, with just a couple of low chairs around a small table and a huge swirly coloured painting staring down from the wall.
The bar next door was deserted when we visited, which is a feat because it is tiny as well - only a few chairs and tables (again, under a huge swirly coloured painting), and a wobbly silver bar.
Fashion designer Christian Lacroix says "It reminds us of doll houses" which is a tacit admission that the rooms are as tiny as the downstairs area. We didn't see the rooms themselves, but if the photos are anything to go by (notice how they never show more than a corner or a light or a painting?), Lacroix's profession that he "always loved the idea of hotels, of the journey around a room" is pretty disingenuous. It'd be a very short journey.
Nevertheless, the Petit Moulin's the place to stay if you want to stay to be seen, and if you prefer intimacy and (colourful) design to factory-style chain hotels. For a 4-star hotel in such a fab location, rates of €190 ($300) for a standard double up to €550 for a deluxe, plus €15 ($23) for breakfast (go next-door to a café bar instead), are pretty damn reasonable. And the blog reviews are great.
We've talked a lot about the Hotel du Petit Moulin but let's hear from you. If you've rested your head in this dollhouse hotel, let us know how it went.
[Photo: D0ug&R0byn]
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