Karl Lagerfeld to open hotels, resorts and clubs
Reporting from Paris — Karl Lagerfeld, who has professed his penchant for hotel living, can soon check himself into a resort of his own design.
The designer is to build an international hospitality brand — Karl Lagerfeld Hotels & Resorts — under a long-term licensing deal with Brandmark Collective BV.
The new venture, Karl Lagerfeld Hospitality, is to translate the designer’s graphic esthetic into a range of bespoke projects including hotels, residential properties, restaurants and private clubs.
Lagerfeld has been ramping up his interior design projects in recent years, including lobbies for Toronto and Miami condominium projects and a 270-room hotel in Macau.
The latter project, in a 20-story tower that’s part of the future Lisboa Palace luxury development, is slated to open in 2017 and is billed as a “six-star†property.
Brandmark Collective was established in 2015 in Amsterdam and its founders have spawned more than 25 hotels around the world.
Pierpaolo Righi, president and chief executive officer of Karl Lagerfeld, said the push into hotels reflects a wish to “broaden Karl Lagerfeld’s comprehensive lifestyle experience.â€
Brandmark ceo Tony Kurz said it would deliver to hospitality owners and developers a concept that “celebrates the designer’s unique talent and approach to fashion and lifestyle.â€
The Macau project precedes the Brandmark pact and Lagerfeld’s partner in that venture is Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, or SJM, the gaming concessionaire that is also building Palazzo Versace Macau for its resort destination in Cotai.
Lagerfeld joins a growing list of designers and luxury brands to have branched out into hotels, one that includes such names as Giorgio Armani, Bulgari, Versace and Baccarat.
The hospitality push dovetails with a retail rollout for the Karl Lagerfeld brand, including a foray into the U.S. market with G-III Apparel Group.
