The rooms
Spread over six floors, guests of Maison Proust Paris can choose the romantically-lit room or suite of their favourite Proustian muse or artistic cohort, from Princess Mathilde, Napoleon’s imperious sharp-tongued niece, to avant-garde prince of the poets, Jean Cocteau. Expect a dazzling medley of walls lined with patterned silk and embroidered fabrics, shimmery taffeta curtains from Pierre Frey, Rubelli, Lelièvre, and Edmond Petit, plus the ultimate pièce de résistance: a museum quality portrait from the end of the 19th century. In the Emile Zola suite, for instance, a nude courtesan arranges her chignon in front of her mirror evoking high-class prostitute heroine Nana; in the Robert de Montesquiou room is a brooding portrait of the flamboyant dandy who inspired Proust’s Baron de Charlus and Huysman’s Des Esseintes. In our suite, named after the revered, eccentric and golden-voiced superstar actress, Sarah Bernhardt, I couldn’t take my eyes off the portrait of a dreamy-eyed theatre-goer, an elegant demoiselle in a cinched-waist pink taffeta ball gown. Add to the rich decor an abundance of (Proustian) microscopic details – ornate golden door handles, Cordoba leather-lined bathroom walls, gold-thread monogrammed robes and towels, a secret desk tucked away in a corner by the window, a shelf of carefully chosen books, and the list goes on. From the windows is an unencumbered view of trees and the neighbourhood rooftops. Oddly, there are no real closets (save a bedside nook behind a curtain for minimalist boudoir apparel); large suitcases are meant to be stored under the ultra-comfy high bed. High point: bone up on your literary French alongside Jacques Garcia’s stunning lampshades fashioned after a parchment and leather-bound book bearing a hand-written excerpt of Swann’s Way.
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Bar at Maison Proust, Parisbenjamin rosemberg
The spa
Dubbed a “water salon”, this dreamy Moorish-style spa (a tribute to Proust’s childhood memories of his Aunt Léonie’s oriental living room in Combray), there’s a 10-meter heated pool, plus a hammam and sauna in an Arabian Nights décor (think marble, low wood slated ceiling and twinkly lanterns). Unsurprisingly, the meticulous craftsmanship by expert Moroccan artisans took one year to assemble — the ceramic ornamental tiles on the stucco columns were all pieced together by hand. Guests can privatise the space for a one-hour idyll, and then book a massage in one of the three adjacent treatment rooms.
