It may be a mind-boggling twenty-eight centuries old; it may still be outside of the EU; and it may have an average temperature of 28* in summer, but Istanbul has officially never been hotter.
Much has been made recently of the bubbling up of this exotic East-meets-West city from historic site to bona fide hip and happening hotspot (see Paula Reed’s top addresses for the city here) but now something has happened to confirm the city’s stellar status: the Chanel juggernaut has landed.
Last night Chanel held a glittering show of its Byzantium-inspired pre-fall collection in the opulent rooms of the Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorus. Lagerfeld lovely Kirsten Dunst was in attendance, where she joined a host of VIP guests in reclining on luscious Oriental divans to view the show.
The showing of the collection cements Istanbul’s status on the fashion circuit, with Chanel opening a third boutique in the city in July to cater for the burgeoning number of high-fashion consumers in the city.
So what does that mean for us? Time to start packing your bags we reckon! While we’re too late to join Kirsten, Tilda, Riccardo Tisci and others for the Istancool festival this weekend, we’re hot on the case of booking ourselves some Eastern promise in this most splendid of cities.
The recently opened Istanbul Edition hotel looks like our kind of scene (the opening there recently drew the likes of Diane Kruger, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Richard Nicoll to revel in its unadulterated luxury) but failing that you’ll find us hanging out in the Grand Bazaar sipping mint tea and watching the stylish locals go about their business.
So if you, like us, failed to book yourselves a getaway on this every-so-slightly dreary bank holiday weekend, make like Karl and his Krew and book yourself in for a long weekend break to discover for yourself why it’s called ‘City of the World’s Desire’.
– Alannah Sparks
via Grazia Travel Club: Turkish Delight.