Diane von Furstenberg designs London’s Claridge hotel guestrooms

by Melanie Nayer on

Ask any jetsetter to show you what’s in her carry-on bag and it’s likely she’ll produce a Diane von Furstenberg dress. After all, the iconic fashion designer does have a way with wraps (her legendary wrap-dress caused a sensation back in the 1970s and today, those dresses are a must-have in many closets).

Now comes word that von Furstenberg is bringing her designer dresses straight to the hotel – Claridge’s, to be exact – the five-star London hotel that she’s been a regular in for almost 30 years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

While Armani and Gucci work on the interiors of their new Dubai hotels, von Furstenberg is focused on decorating 20 rooms and suites in Claridge’s, four of which are scheduled to open next week.

“I’m very much a traveling soul. I have spent so much time in hotels. I know what people who stay in hotels need,” von Furstenberg told the newspaper.

According to the article, von Furstenberg had a hand in everything – from paint to furniture to art – in the new hotel rooms. The von Furstenberg designed rooms will also feature a vanity, traveling trunk, desk and cocktail bar that she designed specifically for the hotel.

Ever the traveler, and with a keen eye for fashion and photography, some of the rooms at Claridge’s will also feature personal photographs that von Furstenberg took during her travels to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Neville Longbottom has words for London mayor: Harry Potter belongs in Florida!

by Jason Cochran on

At this morning’s press conference for the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, actor Matthew Lewis, who plays the ever-important Neville Longbottom in the movie series, was asked what he thought about Boris Johnson’s recent dig at Orlando. The London mayor complained that the theme park for Harry Potter, as a British property, ought to be in Britain.

Lewis doesn’t think much of Johnson’s media diatribe. And he’s an Englishman, by the way.

London’s The Savoy to reopen Oct. 10, 2010

by Melanie Nayer on

Almost three years later, London’s famed hotel The Savoy will reopen in the heart of the West End theater district. The landmark hotel opened in 1889 and was shut down in 2007 to undergo a major £100 million (almost $150 million) restoration that includes a complete rebuilding of the property, including all public areas and the guest rooms. Now comes word the iconic hotel will reopen on Oct. 10, 2010.

Here’s what we know:

  • All of the hotel’s 268 rooms and suites have been redecorated and redesigned with a combination of Art Deco and Edwardian. Of the guest rooms, 58 will have river views.
  • All rooms offer an extensive array of modern amenities
  • The Reading Room will be an intimate, comfortable area for guests
  • The new glass dome floods the Thames Foyer with natural light
  • The iconic American Bar will once again be serving some of the best cocktails in London
  • The Front Hall entry is being restored, including the famous “Idyll of a Golden Age” frieze (the architecture that surrounds the doorways and windows).

In addition to the renovations, the new Savoy will be void of check in/check out hassles — the hotel is eliminating paper bills for guests to sign and moving to a completely electronic system. The hotel will be staffed with personal assistants including butlers for rooms, transportation services and more for all guests. There will be a fitness center, pool and spa. Three different restaurants, two bars and a tea shop will grace the hotel, as well as private event space for up to 440 people. And of course, as part of the Fairmont family, The Savoy will be part of the group’s eco-program and green initiatives.

Check out more of The Savoy’s renovation project here.

Man flies to London hidden beneath airplane

by Jeremy Kressmann on

A 20-year-old Romanian man is lucky to be alive after he was discovered hidden inside the rear wheel compartment of a jet arriving this week in London. The stowaway, who was apparently looking for work, braved low oxygen and outside air temperatures during the flight as low as 40 below zero. Upon his discovery at London’s Heathrow Airport, he was covered in bruises and showing signs of hypothermia, but thankfully still alive.

How exactly did a man manage to sneak inside a plane? And how did he make it through the experience? It turns out through a remarkable mix of luck, daring and stupidity. The man apparently climbed under a fence at Vienna’s Schwechat airport, hiding himself beneath a private jet that had been parked there since last week. He also lucked out with the flight plan – the plane had to fly at a lower-than-normal altitude to avoid bad weather, allowing the man to survive what would normally be a fatal combination of cold and lack of air.

UK authorities were surprised by the man’s unexpected arrival, though they declined to press charges. As Romania is part of the European Union, the “passenger” was technically allowed to visit on holiday. He was cautioned and freed with no further action. Frankly, this traveler is lucky to have survived the ordeal, let alone gotten off without legal action.

Next time you’re ready to complain about that horrible experience on your last flight, you might want to think again. Somebody out there has definitely had it much worse.

(Image: Flickr/Lili Vieira de Carvalho’s)

London mayor rails against Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s Florida location

by Leigh Caldwell on

London’s mayor wants a piece of the Harry Potter pie.

With the Wizarding World of Harry Potter set to open at Universal Orlando next week, Boris Johnson is appealing to British children and their “Potter-fiend parents” to writ to Potter movie studio Warner Bros, Universal and Potter author J.K. Rowling to “bring Harry home to Britain.”

In a column in the London Telegraph, Johnson points out that the teen wizard is British. His Wizarding World is inextricably linked to London. And Johnson knows “somewhere that’s even better than Orlando at looking like London – and that is London.”

He makes a valid point. But the way he makes it is so… British.

Why, oh why, would anyone come to Florida to scamper through “the Styrofoam turrets of Hogwarts” and see “vast latex-covered Hagrids rolling bonhomiously down the street?”

Perhaps because they can walk the streets of Hogsmeade in November without an overcoat and galoshes?

“I want you to know that I have nothing against Orlando, though you are, of course, far more likely to get shot or robbed there than in London,” Johnson writes.

Ouch.

The mayor rails against the idea that the British would allow Americans to make money off a British invention. Of course, there’s no mention that they already left it to the American film industry to make the movies the Wizarding World is based on.

For what it’s worth, a Harry Potter attraction is coming to London in 2012. Warner Bros announced last month that it has bought Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire — the filming location for all of the Harry Potter movies — and will open a Potter-themed tour attraction there that can accommodate up to 5,000 visitors a day.

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