Fashion and travel have always gone hand in hand, each inspiring the other — from the first trunks the great houses ever packed to the Riviera summers that shaped entire collections. This summer, that connection simply takes on a new form: the biggest fashion houses are no longer just at home on the runway or in the campaign, but right on the beach — with their own rooms, their own loungers, their own view of the sea.
They headed to the beach—not just as advertisers, but as hosts. The beach umbrella over the lounge chair, the towel at the foot of the bed, the waiter’s uniform with a tailor’s eye for proportion: all deliberately crafted by a company that used to be content with just your glance and now has your entire afternoon to itself. You didn’t book a fashion show. And are trends now emerging even in places that are actually meant for vacation?
A retail store gets a customer. A beach club gets a guest. There’s a difference—no one else has put it quite so succinctly this year. A retail store is a transaction, over in minutes. A guest is, even if only for a day, a resident—they entrust their skin to the establishment, their sunburn, which is a memory of summer that will truly last. Today’s luxury clientele doesn’t just want to buy the brand—they want to vacation in it. So this is yet another way that fashion and travel come together—only this time with their own room key.
Since the season’s schedule is now largely set, here’s the FACES Tour—beach by beach, region by region.
The French & Italian Riviera
Monte-Carlo Beach, Monaco This is where it all begins, because it was on this very pier that the two boldest statements of the season made their debut. Jacquemus brought his signature sense of proportion to the rows of striped beach umbrellas, extending the signature stripes all the way to the towels and lounge chair covers. Then, in the middle of summer, Gucci arrived to celebrate sixty years of Flora—the print made its way from silk scarves to the entire club and into an exclusive Monte Carlo capsule collection, available nowhere else, that even made die-hard regulars pause. Come for lunch, stay for the collection you didn’t actually intend to buy—but end up taking home anyway.
Hôtel Belles Rives, Antibes Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald once had their boathouse here. Burberry spent the summer organizing water skiing activities from this very dock, while the Heritage check pattern appears on lounge chairs and towels without ever seeming like a costume change. The hotel itself—an Art Deco gem that still exudes the literary legend of the Côte d’Azur—isn’t forced into a new identity by the collaboration, but rather one that feels as though it has always been there. Still the most romantic stretch on the cape, now with an added layer of British reserve.
Le Carillon, Portofino Dolce & Gabbana’s Verde Maiolica print—the brand’s most recognizable pattern alongside the leopard print—covers this beach club from front to back: lounge chairs, umbrellas, the restaurant, the boutique, even the tableware on which lunch is served. It feels less like branding and more as if the harbor of Paraggi had always looked exactly like this—in green and white, overlooking the same fishing boats that were moored there even before the collaboration. That’s precisely the real trick this summer: takeovers disguised as familiarity.
Hotel Cala di Volpe, Sardinia A second, sunnier D&G takeover, this time in yellow Maiolica Gialla on the terraces of the Atrium Bar, featuring hand-painted cabanas and ceramics that you’d love to sneak home in your carry-on luggage. Where Le Carillon opts for cool greens, here the focus is on vibrant lemon yellow—as if someone had decided that a summer on the Costa Smeralda shouldn’t be subdued, but celebrated. The honey-colored facades of the hotel, built by architect Luigi Vietti in the 1960s and modeled after a Sardinian fishing village, provide a backdrop for the takeover that no studio shoot could ever replicate.
Sicily & the Amalfi Coast
San Domenico Palace, Taormina. Dolce & Gabbana, in the Sicily that shaped them—the most obvious pairing of the season, and yet somehow the most compelling. For the fourth season in a row, the fashion house has taken over the terraces of the former Dominican monastery, this time featuring a green-and-white palm motif that winds around the pool and loggia, while a pop-up store is set up in the historic sacristy vault and contemporary art installations line the monastery cloisters. Book a table with a view of Mount Etna, and you’ll understand why what began as a one-time event has long since become a firm summer tradition.
Verdura Resort, Sicily Missonis’s zigzag pattern seems as though it has always belonged to this stretch of coastline—less a takeover than a long-overdue reunion. The pattern that has defined the brand since the 1960s can be found on lounge chairs, umbrellas, and terry cloth accessories along the resort’s three private coves, nestled among the 92 hectares of citrus groves and olive orchards that surround the resort. Here, it’s less about making a bold statement and more about quietly affirming that Italian design and the Italian coast have always spoken the same language.
Il Riccio, Capri Parfums Christian Dior has taken on the island’s most iconic beach club and transformed it—not through color, but through scent—proving that the trend is no longer just about how a place looks, but how it smells when you close your eyes. In the grottoes of Anacapri, directly above the turquoise waters of the bay, the perfume house has created an olfactory signature that permeates the lounge areas, the restaurant, and even the towels. Those who check in here don’t end up buying the menu, but rather the memory of a specific scent of salt water and neroli.
Palazzo Avino, Ravello Valentino, high above the Amalfi Coast—the brand’s signature romanticism finally finds a setting that does justice to its dramatic flair. The former 12th-century patrician palace, situated 300 meters above the sea, becomes the stage for the soft red tones and flowing silhouettes that have defined the house since Pierpaolo Piccioli took the helm. No loud prints, no bold repetition of a logo—just the quiet harmony between a brand that prioritizes emotion and a place that looked like a painting even before the collaboration.
Puente Romano, Marbella Fendi’s takeover of the Chiringuito Beach Club offers a real reason to stay even after sunset: a culinary residency at La Plaza that takes dinner just as seriously as the daybeds. The resort’s Andalusian village ambiance—whitewashed alleyways winding through the grounds like a real pueblo—gets a seasonal makeover in Fendi’s signature yellow, from the beach umbrellas to the packaging at the pop-up boutique. This is the first Fendi dining experience of its kind worldwide, making Marbella the launchpad for a new format this summer—one that other brands are sure to emulate.
Ibiza, the Balearic Islands, and Beyond
The Standard, Ibiza Burberry, the same brand that plays it safe on the Riviera, really lets loose here. On the UP rooftop terrace, overlooking the old town of Ibiza City, the Heritage check pattern transforms into lounge chairs, umbrellas, and a dedicated cocktail menu, while DJ sets and “Solar Sessions” accompany the sunset. Where Belles Rives opts for understatement, Burberry here embraces Ibiza’s own language of music, color, and a laid-back nighttime vibe—the same brand, two completely different styles.
OKU Hotels, Ibiza Missonis’ own pool takeover on the island, independent of the other locations this season—proof that the print works well by any body of water. For the second year in a row, the zigzag pattern transforms the hotel’s minimalist, Japanese-inspired pool area into an explosion of color—a deliberate contrast to OKU’s otherwise understated design vocabulary of natural wood and muted tones. The repetition here is no coincidence, but a statement: This collaboration is here to stay.
Hotel de Mar, Mallorca Alberta Ferretti brings a softer, more picturesque touch to the Balearic Islands than most other entries on this list attempt to do. The specially named Bombon Pool Club—Mallorca’s very first fashion pool club—adorns lounge beds, pillows, and umbrellas in the soft pastel tones and flowing lines for which the Italian designer is known, overlooking the Bay of Palma. Instead of making a bold statement, Ferretti offers an invitation to linger: subdued lighting, muted colors—and yet unmistakably fashion.
One&Only Aesthesis, Athenian Riviera Burberry again, this time further east, where the resort shares the coastline with a second, edgier collaboration by Balmain—structured and gold-trimmed, while Burberry remains classic. Between the two, one of Europe’s most fashion-forward stretches of sand has quietly emerged: two completely different fashion houses, a single resort, and a coexistence that works surprisingly well because both brands deliberately prioritize competition over conflict. Anyone who visits both areas in a single day gets practically two collaborations for the price of one stay.
Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum Jacquemus brings his Riviera flair to the Turkish coast—proof that the entire concept is far more exportable than anyone could have anticipated. In Paradise Bay, overlooking the Aegean Sea, you’ll find the same playful interplay of proportions that defined Monte-Carlo Beach—only under the Turkish sun, with olive trees instead of citrus trees in the background. Proof that a good idea knows no boundaries—it simply finds its way to wherever the light is just right.
Bawe Island, Zanzibar The outlier—and arguably the boldest move of the summer: Guess has set its sights on a private retreat off the coast of Zanzibar to completely reinvent “Guess Island”—not just a beach club tacked onto an existing hotel, but an entire lifestyle conceived specifically for this occasion. The private island, part of the Cocoon Collection, will become the first-ever standalone “island” of a fashion brand for the season, complete with branded boats, custom-designed beach areas, and a presence that goes far beyond a typical summer partnership. While other brands are still haggling over lounge chairs and umbrellas, Guess has already purchased the entire property.
You can find more destinations—both with and without a fashion focus— here.
