Here to Stay

Sally and Michel Perrin decamp from Los Angeles to a sun-dappled resort town on Mexico's Pacific coast.

- By David Nash. Photography by Trevor Tondro

On a terraced hillside, high above Mexico's Pacific coast, sits a villa named Casa Torre. The residence in an area near Jalisco developed by the late Italian banker Gian Franco Brignone and dubbed Costa Careyes ("tortoise shells" in Spanish)-is home to fashion-world bon vivants Sally and Michel Perrin. For Michel, the chairman of his family's 130-year-old French leather-goods house, Perrin Paris, and his American expat wife, Sally, who serves as the heritage brand's creative director, Careyes is more than a part-time escape, it's a way of life. "It's a place that has brought us great joy," she says.

They were introduced to Costa Careyes when they were invited down from Los Angeles for a birthday party 14 years ago. "It was a real watershed moment for us-we just fell in love with the vibe," Sally says. With their two then teenage daughters in tow, the couple returned later that year for a few weeks at Christmas and were totally hooked. "The community was so warm and friendly, so we kept coming back year after year and rented different houses each time," Michel says. Then in early 2019 they learned Casa Torre was for sale, and the stars had suddenly aligned. They sold their L.A. house and started a new chapter living between Paris and Brignone's world.