New lease of life
One by one the world’s top fashion brands are reclaiming their former assets. Just as Dior regained some of its history a few years ago by acquiring Le Château de la Colle Noire – the historic house of Christian Dior – now Chanel’s Alain and Gerard Wertheimer have purchased La Pausa, the villa Coco Chanel built, designed and decorated in the early 1930s. Perched above Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera, the villa once received Chanel’s friends including the Duke of Westminster, Misia Sert, Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dalí. Now the Wertheimer brothers are planning to restore La Pausa to its original spirit.