Posts tagged ‘St. Tropez’

What’s an A-lister to do now that Fashion Week is over?

With the four Fashion Weeks and the obligatory celebrity entrances behind them, the stars can get back to what they do best-—finding OTT vacay opportunities.

To help in their search are five ideas from the March issue of Conde Nast Traveler:

1. Escape to a private island:

The Beckhams (yes, those Beckhams) rang in their 10th anniversary at Fregate Island, a private island in the Seychelles. Price tag? $200,000. But that’s only because they wanted the restaurant, the library, the museum and the seven dream beaches to themselves.

2. Get down on your own private yacht:

Rihanna was a tad more inviting when she chartered the 170-foot, five-deck yacht, Latitude, for a Mediterranean get-away off St. Tropez and Cannes. She invited Magic Johnson (among others) to enjoy the glass elevator, sundeck gym and DJ booth. Price tag? $300,000 per week.

3. Repair to a beach house:

The normal accoutrements at a South American beach bungalow (make that mansion) didn’t cut the muster for Mark Zuckerberg at last year’s “Get-ready-to-take-Facebook-public” party for his wife and 13 of their closest friends. Not only did he bring his own chef, cook, maids and bodyguards to the exclusive house he rented in Punta del Este, Uruguay, but he insisted on brand new furniture.

4. Get your adrenaline on:

In 2011, Russian billionaire and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov took six helicopters full of friends to Courchevel to ski otherwise inaccessible slopes in the French Alps. Afterwards, of course, they warmed up at his $30 million chalet.

5. Celebrate with friends:

For Oprah’s 55th birthday, she took 1700 friends and family to northeast Spain and a ten-day cruise on the Norwegian Gem to Italy, Turkey, Greece and Malta.

Just don’t try to write it off as a business expense as Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski did with a $2 million, 75-guest party in Sardinia. Let’s just say, the IRS didn’t look too kindly on the eight-foot ice sculpture of David that urinated vodka.

March 8, 2013

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The French call it St. “Too Much”

Figaro, a French newspaper, once said that the French Riveria’s Saint-Tropez has more “famous faces per square mile” than anywhere else on the planet.

Ever since the 50’s when paparazzi began trailing the just-discovered Bridget Bardot, this provincial maritime village has been pulling in the yachts, the Ferraris, the private planes and the flesh and blood versions of the faces we see on the magazine covers.

Beyonce & Jay Z recently pulled into the Cote d’Azur paradise in their 180-foot Italian yacht where they were spotted all over the town: on its narrow, cobblestone streets, on its dazzling beaches and even in its decadent discos.

A breathtaking coastal footpath winds from the original fishing harbor to the hard-partying beaches and their non-stop nightclubs and yet another winds back through pines and eucalyptus to the famous Place des Lices shops selling Armani, Prada, Dior, Pucci and the SuperdryStore where David Beckham and Formula One racing champs hone their hunky images. If it’s a Tuesday or Saturday before noon, the open-air Marche de St-Tropez sells baguettes, Provencal olives and linens, cheeses, herbs and silk brocades.

Hotel Sube, overlooking the famous port, is the town’s oldest and has long been a hangout for artists, writers and other Bohemians. Back in the 20’s, for example, French author Collette fell in love with the sunsets, the Muscat grapes and the rustic wisteria-covered pastel houses.

Or there’s Hotel Byblos, where in 1971 Mick Jagger proposed to Bianca (in room 401, if you must know). They later tied the knot at the Chapel of St.-Anne with scads of paparazzi-snapping away. Jagger and Bardot sightings have tapered off (she still lives here, but mainly in seclusion), but this mythic playground is still good for a glimpse of the entourages of P. Diddy, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Naomi Campbell, Bruce Willis and Ivana Trump.

Just remember, the real stars are the beaches.

December 1, 2011

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St. Tropez, France for parents: Elton John and David Furnish

Elton John, David Furnish and eight-month-old Zachary spent most of August in St. Tropez. Where did the doting parents go when they wanted a little beach time? The same place Naomi Campbell celebrates her birthday every year. Le Club 55, one of the most exclusive beach clubs on St. Tropez’s three-mile Pampelonne Beach.

Getting reservations for Sunday brunch at this beachside landmark is nearly impossible, not because it caters to celebrities (anyone’s welcome), but because everyone from Saudi princes and fast-lane billionaires to film and rock idols like to dine under tamarisk trees on its white-canvas-shaded deck. Lunching at Club 55 has long been a St. Tropez rite of passage.

The featured attraction? A gorgeous megasalad with monstrous heads of cauliflower, tomatoes big as softballs and perfect mushrooms, carrots, scallions and cucumbers, all artistically arranged atop a thick slab of cork. Oh yeah, and the beach.

Club 55 was launched in the year 1955 after the mother of Patrice de Colmont, the current owner, was asked by Brigitte Bardot, who mistook their family cabana on the north end of the beach for a restaurant, for 80 roast beef sandwiches. She wanted it for the crew on her film, And God Created Woman, that turned St. Tropez into the household name it is today. Even though it’s open to everyone and remains faithfully democratic (the King of Belgium was once asked to wash his own dish to help out the overbooked kitchen), Club 55 requires reservations.

It has a relaxed family-friendly vibe (that’s why Elton invited pal Neal Patrick Harris to come along with his 10-month-old twins) complete with backgammon tables, beach umbrellas and foam mattresses and its beach boutique sources the best small labels from around the world including handmade fabric sketchbooks and diaries by Willow Rose.

Click here, for more on the club the French call Cinquante Cinq.

September 9, 2011

psgrout

George Clooney Slept Here

Posts tagged ‘St. Tropez’

What’s an A-lister to do now that Fashion Week is over?

The French call it St. “Too Much”

St. Tropez, France for parents: Elton John and David Furnish

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