Starck Contrast

Starck Contrast
Design's grand fromage goes for baroque in B.A.

Never has the lobby of the Royalton looked so dated. With Faena Hotel + Universe in Buenos Aires, a new collaboration with Argentinean fashion designer Alan Faena, Philippe Starck has officially traded soulless sleek for over-the-top baroque.

He calls the property, which was conjured out of the neglected hull of a 1902 granary in B.A.'s up-and-coming Puerto Madero Este district, "the best creation I've ever done," and-while we'll always have a certain affection for his "Excalibur" toilet brush-it's hard to disagree.

A fantasia of gold leaf, marble, overstuffed furniture, and the occasional swan fixture or mounted unicorn head, the Faena expands on the surrealist whimsy that Starck brought to the Baccarat mansion in Paris.

And it all comes at a time when B.A. couldn't be hotter, as evidenced by this weekend's opening party, thrown by New York social fixture (and Faena investor) Tory Burch and featuring a list of invitees usually more at home in Palm Beach or St. Barts. Trust Starck to give them a suitable stage set.