Designers and Their Hotels

Leave it to Trendhunter to pick up on the latest fad: fashion designers branching out beyond the basics, and "expanding their empires" to include jet interior design (Versace's got it covered: You go, girl!) as well as kitchens by…Armani.

Of course we're all over their big plans to break into the hotel industry with luxury hotels in Dubai. Both the Versace Palazzo hotel and Armani's hotel in the Burj Dubai building are planned to open in 2008.

As described the LA Times:

Armani's hotel is under construction in the stratospheric Burj Dubai building, whose exact number of floors is secret but rumored to approach 200. It will feature subtle hues and a rigorous, sophisticated environment. In addition to offering who-knew-you-needed-it features such as temperature-controlled sand on the beach, Versace's Dubai outpost will be as Baroque as the late Gianni Versace's private residences. At the Missoni hotel, one of a string of global openings, the decor blends the brand's colorful prints with the streamlined architecture of Matteo Thun.

And at luxury hotels across the world, guests are opting for designer suites that reflect a certain lifestyle, such as the Vera Wang Suite at the Halekulani Hotel, and the brand new Bottega Veneta Suite at the St. Regis Hotel in New York, opening this fall. (1,700 sq ft distinguished by pieces from Bottega's new home line.)