We Break Down All You Need To Know On How to Take Over a Beach Resort
By Mackenzie Richards and Neal Bhattacharya
How can houses exude fun, forge creative partnerships and reach a more global clientele all at once? The answer: a beach club takeover. This summer, brands are taking the reins to a variety of these exclusive, ocean-side resorts. Suddenly, umbrellas bearing the logos of Gucci, Dior, and Valentino are springing up across the globe. This move might seem unexpected, but it’s smart. Through the beach clubs, brands are able to extend their marketing reach to customers who already seek luxury environments. Plus, through these takeovers brands get to showcase their talent at curating experiences. In this Insight, we look deeper into what makes this trend so compelling (and valuable) for brands.
Index
Find A Fitting City
Off the coast of Italy lies the island of Capri. Mottled with bright stucco houses, limestone cliffs and an emerald blue grotto, the island has been a resort since the Roman Republic. This summer, Dolce & Gabbana has partnered with the Grand Hotel Quisisana to craft a sumptuous experience for guests there. For this collab, DG decorated the hotel with its iconic Blu Mediterraneo pattern, a ceramic-like design that has also been featured in a partnership with Smeg. The colors—bright blue and pale white—echo those of the island’s rocky landscape.
Capri is not new terrain for the brand. This hotel partnership in fact builds on a link with the island that Dolce & Gabbana has quietly cultivated. Some of the brand’s famous Light Blue fragrance ads were, after all, filmed on the island. In those ads, Capri’s beauty speaks for itself and conjures up a summery escape. Dolce & Gabbana has even released a Resort collection named for Capri. This bright, beachy line takes inspiration from the resort lifestyle and features a distinct palette that can be traced back to ancient frescoes.
So the island has already proven itself to be a strong fit for Dolce & Gabbana’s brand image. If this trend continues next summer, brands should follow this house’s lead when seeking resorts to partner with. They might look at locations that have already been featured in campaigns or lines. (By this logic, Loewe might want to start contacting resorts in Ibiza.)
Jacquemus Portofino Pop Up Shop
Jacquemus’ Beachfront Paradise In St Tropez
Another apt pairing, Jacquemus has taken the luxury experience to the sun-kissed shores of Saint-Tropez with its latest beachfront pop-up. The exclusive Indie Beach, a private beach club in Saint-Tropez, now boasts the stylish touch of Jacquemus, offering guests a unique opportunity to bask under the vibrant yellow sun loungers that bear the brand’s iconic logo.
Building on the success of recent pop-up boutique openings in Como and Portofino, Simon Porte Jacquemus continues to expand his creative vision. The sun-kissed seaside town of Saint-Tropez provides the perfect backdrop for Jacquemus’ elegant pop-up boutique, showcasing its exclusive Éte capsule collection. The capsule was regionally inspired and shows how brands can make smart use of local motifs.
Jaquemus’ first-ever branded beach exudes a nostalgic 1970s charm with its beach furniture adorned in citrus-striped awnings, parasols, and cushions, all designed in the brand’s signature patterns and hues. The beach’s breezy atmosphere is further enhanced by decorative surfboards that add a touch of coastal chic to the experience.
Fashion enthusiasts and beachgoers can revel in the allure of Jacquemus x Indie Beach throughout the summer until October 2023, creating an unforgettable luxury beach experience in the heart of Saint-Tropez.
Find A Resonant Resort
Yet locating a seaside city that fits with the brand’s aesthetic is only half the work. The resort itself must also be a good fit. It seems, at first, like it would require a lot of difficult calculus to determine potential partners that culturally jive. After all, hotels and fashion houses serve wildly different needs.
But fashion houses have long been designing event spaces, from runways to retail stores. So they have already practiced incorporating aesthetic choices that reflect brand DNA in physical spaces. (House museums like the Gucci Garden or Fondazione Prada are another example of this.) In choosing resorts, houses may have built on their experiments to find a place that truly resonates.
They might also look at the clientele of the resorts, to ensure that they are targeting the right demographic. But, as we’ve said, the visitors of these resorts are already seeking our luxury experience. In a way, the clientele has already been curated. So when Missoni redesigned the One&Only Reethi Rah resort, known for its luxurious offerings, the house could be confident it was appealing to the sought-after client base.
A uniquely Gucci getaway on the Côte d’Azur
Gucci has also found a resort that harmonizes with its brand image. From June until the end of September, Gucci has taken over Loulou Ramatuelle on the Pampelonne shore. Signature motifs such as the Web and the Interlocking G define the lounge area of the beach club in a fresh palette for a special setting to celebrate the season. Additionally, the House host a pop-up boutique with a curated warm-weather selection featuring pieces exclusive to the destination.
Dior Inaugurates A New Pop-Up Store In Saint-Tropez
Dior, too, has found a resonant partner to pair up with. Throughout the summer, the captivating models of the Dioriviera capsule were unveiled in a series of ephemeral boutiques around the world. As a vibrant tribute to Christian Dior’s passion for the Mediterranean art of living, Dior inaugurated an unprecedented pop-up store at Shellona Beach, Saint-Tropez, from June 1 to September 20, 2023. The results are a seamless blend of style and place.
In this exceptional setting, creations are presented in a sunny universe enhanced by the purity and naturalness of colors and materials. From the beach to the restaurant, the summer atmosphere is punctuated by the collection’s emblems, including the toile de Jouy reinvented this season in a palette of soft shades, from pink to gray. Named Toile de Jouy Sauvage, it illuminates deckchairs, sunloungers, cushions and parasols. Here and there, the animals inhabiting this essential motif are transformed into life-size works, entirely sculpted in sand.
We can again look to Dolce & Gabbana for an example of an apt house-hotel pairing. At the Casa Amor beach club, in the French riviera, D&G decked the place out with its Carretto Siciliano print. The Casa Amor, with its laid-back attitude, blends well with D&G’s sunny but luxurious image.
Use Location to Your Advantage
Many of the takeovers are happening in Italy and France, close to where houses are headquartered. But some are expanding to more distant shores. Louis Vuitton, for example, has decorated the Huangcuo Beach in the Chinese island of Xiamen. To complement this takeover, LV released a By the Pool collection, a resort line featuring Barbiecore-pink monograms and even a fan.
This move builds on LV’s presence in China. With 62 retail stores on the mainland, the house is serious about cementing its presence there. A beach takeover in one of the nation’s top tourist destinations is a sign that the house wants to remain a key player in this flush market. After all, the nation’s fashion industry generated US$336.8 billion in 2023. By bringing the European takeover trend to China, LV is showing itself to be forward thinking.
Valentino, in a similar move, partnered with SĀN beach in Dubai. It appears as though the Italian-based house is gearing up to tap into the United Arab Emirates’ robust luxury consumer base. Like in China, the appetite for high-end fashion is strong in the Middle Eastern country. Valentino is making in-roads here by showcasing their knack for luxury experience-making.
Conclusion
These beach takeovers did so much for brands at once. Houses got to show off their resort lines to an exclusive, international clientele, for sure. But they also proved that their aesthetic philosophies can translate to more than just products to be worn. Sipping a mojito on a beach chair designed by Gucci fuses the house’s image with unabashed pleasure. By now, some of the umbrellas and resort wear may be packed up. But the indelible memories will always remain.