photos courtesy of Vogue
The Ritz is a haven of glamorous guests—hello, movie stars and fashion legends—and Kate Moss is one of them, dressed in haute couture for this editorial. Photographed by Tim Walker, styled by Grace Coddington.
2. A cornflower-blue dress by Sarah Burton, reminiscent of 1950s couture
3. Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci silk organza blouse with paillettes and crystals, silk knit tank, silk cady skirt with zipper detail, and crystal jewelry
4. For three decades, Coco Chanel called the hotel her home. Here, the bedroom of the suite named for her. Armani Privé sequined embroidered flared bustier dress.
5. Chanel Haute Couture embroidered organza flower coat and pumps.
6. Dior Haute Couture
7. Alexis Mabille Haute Couture burnished lamé dress and hat.
8. Valentino Haute Couture taffeta dresses.
9. Dior Haute Couture
10. Giambattista Valli Haute Couture silk dress and necklace
"Founded in 1898 by a Swiss hotelier, Cé-sar Ritz, who installed the hotel in the 1705 private residence of the Gramont family. Ritz was the first hotelkeeper to provide a bathroom for every guest room. He wanted to create a hotel where a prince would feel at home. He teamed up with Escoffier, the greatest chef of the day, and they attracted the world’s elite.
Coco Chanel lived in the Ritz for some 30 years, even though she had an apartment nearby on the rue Cambon. She was living there when the Luftwaffe and Goering made the Ritz their headquarters in 1940. Her lover was a Nazi officer and spy, Hans Günther von Dincklage; in fact, it is alleged that she was a spy herself. Today the Ritz still maintains a Chanel suite; in the salon is a large lacquered Coromandel screen, incised with Chinese scenes and decorated with gold. Such screens were the first objects Chanel had collected when she had some money.
The Paris Ritz, then, has had a troubled history, but it has always pretended otherwise. As the poet Léon-Paul Fargue once wrote: “First of all the Ritz is a peaceful palace whose ceremonies are disturbed only by a mistake in a place setting or a dropped fork.” One wonders if in its next incarnation it will be able to maintain this tranquil illusion. " (André Leon Talley, Vogue).
