In a world where it seems that there’s a members’ club on every corner, the question is less, ‘How do I get in?’ and more, ‘Which one is right for me?’
For the bona fide beauty devotee, there is arguably only one temple of wellness worth signing up to. Tucked beneath the pristine stone façades of Place Vendôme is the Ritz Club — and it’s a health club like no other.
The club is part of the grand Ritz Paris hotel’s new wellness offering after the landmark’s much-vaunted £300 million refurb under architect Thierry Despont (of Claridge’s and 45 Park Lane fame). It was here, after the 2016 reopening, that Karl Lagerfeld chose to showcase his Chanel SS17 collection and the hotel has been the pied-à-terre of choice for beauty insiders ever since.
Of course, it has form. Since César Ritz first opened the doors of this Parisian grand dame in 1898, it has played host to the great and the good of society. F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Marcel Proust were often spotted propping up the bar; real-life Gatsbys such as the Rockerfellers and Vanderbilts were regulars.
Resident adviser: Coco Chanel, above at the Ritz, enjoyed the rooms so much she stayed for 30 years
Yet no guest was as famous as Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, who lived at the hotel for more than 30 years and became so familiar with its floor plan that she often used the staff entrance on Rue Cambon to slip into her private suite. So it was hardly a leap when it came to deciding where the Chanel haute brand would open its first stand-alone spa. The decor takes its cue from Coco’s own apartment — sleek black and white lines coupled with marmoreal plinths and pillars. And then there’s the art deco pool with its intricate patchwork of 800,000 mosaic tiles, the water 50 shades of blue all under a hand-painted ceiling of clouds.
In the beauty corner, treatments range from soothing (Le Temps Lumière is a pleasing pick-me-up type facial that brightens and tightens) to super scientific. The trademarked Le Massage de Chanel is the most potent: fusing Eastern and Western techniques, it finishes with the brush application of collagen to firm and lift.
Want the physique to match the digs? There’s a PT and state-of-the-art gym for that. Members and guests can enjoy one-on-one coaching to shred, hone and tone, while celebrity coiffer David Mallet — who has worked with A-listers including Marion Cotillard, Diane Kruger and Charlotte Gainsbourg — heads up the in-house salon for that essential post-gym blow-out.
Never mind searching for lost time: as Stendhal once said, ‘Beauty is the promise of happiness.’ And the Ritz Club? Definitely the beauty aficionado’s happy place.
Membership to the Ritz Club starts at £3,930