New Work: Dorchester Collection
The Dorchester Collection launch at the Dorchester, London
The Dorchester Collection of luxury hotels—The Dorchester in London, The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, Le Meurice and the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris, and the Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan—celebrated the launch of its new identity, designed by John Rushworth, with a series of one-off launch events, designed by Lorenzo Apicella.
Staged at the hotels, the event environments were designed to echo the elegant lines of the new Dorchester Collection mark: two distinctive arcs mirrored back to back to create a “D” and “C.” From these subtle curves, a series of architectural forms were generated that can be reconfigured to suit the different event locations.
Hotel Principe di Savoia gown at the Beverly Hills event
To mark the launch, a lush assortment of fashion and photography was commissioned to be integrated into the environments. The fashion designers Basso and Brookes were asked to create five couture dresses inspired by each of the hotels. The milliner Stephen Jones created couture hats and the fashion photographers Brigitte Lacombe, Paolo Roversi, Vincent Peters, Sarah Moon and Greg Williams were commissioned to capture a single iconic image of each hotel. Finally, Helena Christensen was asked to convey the spirit of the Dorchester Collection in black and white photography. (The photographers’ images can be seen on the Dorchester Collection website.)
The graphic identity was applied to promotional items for the events: bags, brochures, a commemorative CD. John Rushworth previously designed the identity for the Dorchester Hotel.
Update: The project is featured in Design Week.