Khaite Clothes, Made Miniature

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Khaite and Bonpoint Launch a Children’s Collection

By Caitie Kelly

The Khaite designer Catherine Holstein was newly pregnant in the fall of 2022 when the French children’s wear brand Bonpoint reached out to her about collaborating on a capsule collection. Now, the 11 new designs, intended to fit babies and children up to 10 years old and made with materials that are gentle against sensitive skin, are launching on Oct. 25 with a campaign featuring Holstein’s now-seven-month-old son, Calder. Standout pieces include a billowy white cotton top with a ruffled collar, a whimsical red-and-white botanical print skirt and miniature versions of two Khaite mainstays: a double-breasted Tanner blazer and a wool version of the brand’s flare-sleeved Scarlet cardigan. “I’m just amazed at the conversations you can have with kids after the age of three, and what their perspective is,” says Holstein. “I wanted the collection to give them the option to really home in on their individuality.” The pieces most dear to the designer are those inspired by her 1980s childhood. “I had black corduroy overalls that I would wear with suspenders with cars on them and a Fair Isle cardigan. … I really wanted to capture that nostalgia.” From $110, khaite.com and bonpoint.com.

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A ’70s-Inspired Hotel Opens in London’s Soho

In the overcast spring of 1988 in Bournemouth, on the southwest coast of Britain, an Edwardian-style hotel called the Mon Ami went bust. According to Noel Hayden, the gaming entrepreneur whose parents owned the hotel, it had a hundred bedrooms and a resident band that performed six nights a week, a stone’s throw from the beach. “Every night was a celebration,” says Hayden. But international travel had become increasingly affordable, and British guests craved sunnier weather. Bookings dried up. Thirty-five years later, in London’s Soho, Hayden is plotting a comeback.

A month before Broadwick Soho’s planned opening on Nov. 15, the concierge staff are behind the front desk, dressed in leopard print jackets and velvet bow ties, obscuring a Francis Bacon lithograph. Bartenders practice pulling shots of espresso on the La Marzocco in the Italianate cafe with striped Murano glass sconces, or opening champagne at the rooftop hangout, Flute, which has kitschy cork paneling and a mirrored ceiling. The 57 bedrooms are stylish and eccentric (beds sitting in the palms of bronze hands; wardrobes covered in reproductions of a 17th-century tapestry), and some feature notable artwork (four more Bacon lithographs hang in the penthouse). The winking 1970s-inspired décor was a six-year job for designer Martin Brudnizki, who describes the concept as “Studio 54 meets your godmother’s Soho townhouse.” Rooms from about $720 a night, broadwicksoho.com.

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Pearlescent Glassware From the Danish Designer Sophie Bille Brahe

The Danish jeweler Sophie Bille Brahe is known for her delicate designs featuring diamonds and pearls set in inventive combinations that often seem to float above the body. Now she’s lending her diaphanous aesthetic to glass, working with craftspeople on the island of Murano, in Venice, to create a 10-piece collection of limited-edition vases launching Oct. 25. Spherical iridescent vases in pink and cream recall the freshwater pearls Bille Brahe uses in her jewelry designs, while others reference spiraling shell shapes, a motif she has returned to frequently, most memorably in a row of graduating diamonds for her Escargot ring.

Bille Brahe jokes that it took all her powers of diplomacy to coax the Venetian artisans into reviving the glazes and techniques she had come across while inspecting archival designs in the family-run Venice workshop where the pieces were ultimately made. “The artisans kept blowing these shapes that were super old-school Murano, which is lovely, but it’s just not me,” she recalls. It took her four days, for instance, to persuade a glassblower to try a specific shade of gumdrop pink. “It reminded me of when I trained as a goldsmith. There are rules, you have to follow the rules,” she says. “When they knew that I understood the rules, then they were ready to change.” Next on her list? “I would love to do chandeliers.” From $315, sophiebillebrahe.com.

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A Brazilian Jeweler’s Nature-Inspired Pieces, on View at Sotheby’s in New York

Next week, the Brazilian jeweler Fernando Jorge will unveil his latest collection as part of Sotheby’s latest Modern and Contemporary Art presentation. Jorge, who has a master’s degree in jewelry design from London’s Central Saint Martins, launched his namesake line in 2010 following a decade-long career in the São Paulo jewelry industry. For this series of 16 pieces, Jorge drew on his past bodies of work including his 2011 Fluid collection, transforming Brazilian pebbles, collected by a river on the coast of Brazil, into a set of 18-karat gold sculptural cuffs, rings and earrings accentuated with deep brown diamonds. His 2018 Surround collection, in which diamonds are mounted on disks of petrified wood or mother-of-pearl, among other earth-toned materials, is reimagined for Sotheby’s through the use of yellow diamonds and Baltic amber. The designs showcase Jorge’s consistent mixing of humble materials and precious stones. The new pieces will be on display in New York City through Nov. 20, after which they will travel to Sotheby’s galleries in London, Dubai and Zurich in 2024. A selection from Jorge’s main and high jewelry collections will also be available to buy in person, and for immediate purchase on Sotheby’s online marketplace. Price on request, sothebys.com.

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A New Bookshop and Cafe in Tangier, Morocco

Seven years ago, the Moroccan art curator Hicham Bouzid, the architect Mary-Rahma Homman and the urban researcher Amina Mourid started a nonprofit cultural platform called Think Tanger. The idea was to bring locals together for discussions about how to shape the city. Over the years, the trio have held meetings and events at various destinations like Cafe Baba and the Cinémathèque de Tanger but, as of this month, they have a permanent home: Kiosk, a creative hub, bookshop and cafe that just opened on a car-free street not far from Tangier’s harbor. Located in what was once a chess club and cafe, the 2,100-square-foot space, with its terrazzo floors and exposed stone walls, is once again a place for good coffee and the exchange of ideas. “The city is growing so quickly,” says Bouzid, the director of Think Tanger. “We realized we need more spaces for people to meet and think about how we can develop this city together.” Each month Kiosk will offer at least one special event open to the public, from a workshop on the ethical use of A.I. in Africa, run by the organization’s tech consultant Yassine Fatihi, to a talk on modern architecture in Morocco. Once a month on a Friday, the group plans to host a couscous lunch “to gather our community,” says Bouzid. “We call it Kioscous.” instagram.com/thinktanger.

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A New Art-Filled Hotel on Paris’s Left Bank

As might be expected given the new Parisian property’s name, the rooms in the Hôtel des Grands Voyageurs bring to mind a luxurious train or yacht cabin. There are lacquered wooden headboards and night stands, brass knobs and light fixtures, and voyage-inspired bas-reliefs by François Gilles hanging over the beds. The hotel, which opened on Oct. 23 in the Sixth Arrondissement, was designed by Fabrizio Casiraghi (known for his interiors in Hôtel La Ponche in Saint-Tropez and the Drouant restaurant in Paris), who drew inspiration from turn-of-the-20th-century travel style as well as from the nearby apartment of Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The hotel’s art collection, displayed in its rooms as well as in its common spaces, includes lithographs by Gustav Klimt and Marc Chagall, bespoke mirrors by Osanna Visconti di Modrone and sculptures by Stefan Traloc. On the ground floor, the French American brasserie Grands Voyageurs serves a menu focused on hyperlocal fare: cheeses are from La Ferme d’Alexandre, meats from La Boucherie Grégoire, and pâté en croûte from the famous charcuterie Maison Verot: All three businesses have shops in the Sixth. After dinner, there’s apple pie topped with crème fraîche for dessert, or digestifs in Poppy, the hotel’s hidden bar. Rooms from about $330 a night, hoteldesgrandsvoyageurs.com.

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