HAUTE LIVING

With a history intertwined with couture and a newly revamped Dior Spa, Paris’s Hôtel Plaza Athénée turns 110—and remains the place for the fashion cognoscenti.

- NAOMI ROUGEAU

Paris has no shortage of architectural icons. But few are quite as vibrant or charming as the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, with its signature red awnings and coordinating balcony planters and window boxes, flush with geraniums. Like most well-known spots in the city, it is steeped in history: Some time after Jean Gabin and Marlene Dietrich ended their love affair, the actress purchased an apartment across the street. The next time Gabin booked a room at the hotel, still thinking of Dietrich, he asked the concierge to place hundreds of red roses on his balcony so the actress couldn’t possibly miss the signal. The hotel came up short on the long-stemmed blooms, but had plenty of geraniums in the desired shade.