The Classicist: At The Carlyle Hotel

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Sep 2nd 2008 at 9:02AM

When Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week hits New York City this Friday, the hip downtown hotels will of course be flooded with fashionistas. The ones who value refinement and elegance over mere trendiness however will head to the Upper East Side's Carlyle Hotel, a luxurious landmark since it first opened in 1930 and one of our favorite places to stay in the world.

French Vogue editrix Carine Roitfeld recently declared that the Carlyle is her favorite hotel as well, and with the addition of a luxe new spa next month, with its "sleek palette of slate, charcoal and black complemented by finishes in nickel, chrome and glass and rich molding," others are sure to follow suit. Not that the Carlyle lacks for high-profile guests; since it opened nearly 80 years ago, the hotel has played host to an endless procession of movie stars, millionaires and high society.

The Art Deco masterpiece was the perfect setting for both stylish philanderer John F. Kennedy, who owned an apartment on the 34th floor, and legendary cabaret singer Bobby Short, who hung his top hat at the swank Café Carlyle for decades (Woody Allen has also been known to hoist a clarinet there on occasion).

Gallery: The Carlyle Hotel

The hotel's beautiful Bemelmans Bar located off the lobby has long been one of our favorite haunts whenever we're taking a bite out of the Big Apple. Ludwig Bemelmans, the Belgian illustrator, author of the famed Madeline books, and a former Carlyle resident, painted the bar's murals of nearby Central Park in the 1950s in lieu of settling his titanic tab.

You should see it all for yourself as soon as possible, but in the meantime you can read up on it in Nick Foulkes' nifty book, The Carlyle, a pictorial history of the place. Foulkes is an apt choice to chronicle such a fashionable locale; one of the best-dressed men in the world, he's also the author of a history of British luxury goods purveyor Dunhill as well as works on the trench coat, the boutonniere, and James Bond. Take a tip from us though, and don't try to pay your bar tab with a drawing like old Ludwig.

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