Monogrammed Tranquillity: Designer Beach Clubs of the French Riviera
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As we approach the summer season on the Côte d’Azur, the shores of Saint-Tropez are once again poised to shimmer with a familiar blend of salt spray, rosé mist, and branded parasols. Now an established seasonal ritual, the annual unveiling of luxury fashion house beach clubs has become less about finding respite by the sea and more about observing the evolving choreography of status, style, and soft power in swimwear.
The French Riviera, long mythologised as a place of artistic languor and escapist charm, is entering another chapter — one defined not by bohemian driftwood or weathered canvas, but by logo-stamped daybeds, curated playlists, and branded caftans available in “beach but make it couture” boutiques. In Saint-Tropez in particular, the rise of designer beach clubs has transformed the coastline into a living showroom of luxury world-building. But beneath the flattering sun and the chilled towels lies a fascinating question: what happens when peace itself is commodified?
A Branded Oasis: Dior at Shellona and Dolce & Gabbana at Casa Amor
Last summer, Dior returned for a third season at Shellona in Saint-Tropez, reimagining the beach not simply as a setting, but as a canvas. Located on the famed Pampelonne Beach, Shellona became a soft-focus dreamscape of toile de Jouy in washed coral and ivory. The parasols bore the signature Dior motif, loungers were flanked by scented atomisers, and even the beach menus came monogrammed. The space whispered rather than shouted – but the message was clear: leisure is a luxury best styled.
Nearby, Casa Amor joined forces with Dolce & Gabbana, turning their rustic-chic setting into a maximalist fantasy of lemon trees, majolica print cushions, and dramatic Sicilian flair. It was less about restraint, more about spectacle — an Instagrammable homage to the brand’s Mediterranean bravado. This wasn’t barefoot luxury; this was curated hedonism, anchored by the unspoken truth that the cost of a sunbed could rival a week in a Parisian boutique hotel.
Jacquemus: A Mood Board Come to Life
Jacquemus, the poetic disruptor of French fashion, brought his own interpretation of Riviera nostalgia to the shore with “Plage de Jacquemus” at Indie Beach. As with everything the brand touches, there was a studied naïveté to the experience — raffia textures, Provençal pastels, vintage umbrellas and touches of straw and sun-bleached wood. It felt like the Pinterest board of a southern French summer filtered through an editorial lens. But even in its rustic charm, the club was precision-engineered, reminding guests that authenticity is now something designed – and priced – accordingly.
What makes the Jacquemus beach offering particularly intriguing is its flirtation with escapism as a style rather than a circumstance. Here, “simple pleasures” are not stumbled upon but expertly choreographed – the art of looking effortlessly at ease while sipping an €18 citron pressé from a monogrammed glass.
Louis Vuitton at White 1921: A Study in Codes
Image Source: Numero
In the heart of Place des Lices, just a short stroll from the coast, Louis Vuitton took over White 1921 Hotel for the summer season, transforming the façade into a living LV moodboard. Though not strictly a beach club, the takeover extended its influence to the brand’s aesthetic presence in Saint-Tropez’s social fabric. Striped parasols, logo-clad bicycles and custom deck chairs populated the square, extending the beach-club-as-installation motif deeper into town.
If Dior and Jacquemus made beachwear tactile and romantic, Louis Vuitton’s intervention leaned towards the surreal — heritage codes transposed onto sun-drenched leisure in a way that blurred commerce, culture, and concept. It was art direction masquerading as atmosphere.
Gucci at Loulou Ramatuelle: Retro Riviera Glamour
Image Source: Meet & Match
Over at Loulou Ramatuelle, Gucci brought its signature 70s-tinged glamour to the scene. Warm sunset palettes, geometric loungers, and terry cloth robes evoked an era of Slim Aarons jet-set splendour. There was a whiff of irony in the air, but Gucci knows how to play with nostalgia. What once may have been the exclusive preserve of the stylishly decadent is now carefully staged for social media in partnership with a fashion house.
The result? A place where a Negroni and a Gucci pareo feel like a natural pairing — and where sunbathing becomes performance art, captured in high resolution from a drone above.
The Price of Peace (And the Pillow Menu)
It’s worth noting — quietly, as etiquette demands — that this calibre of coastal immersion comes at a cost. Sunbeds during peak season can range from €100 to €500 per day, depending on the proximity to water and the weight of the brand overhead. While this is not necessarily a critique, it does prompt reflection. What is being sold is not simply access to a beach, but access to a narrative: of belonging, beauty, ease. The myth of leisure has never been so carefully curated — or so lucrative.
While Saint-Tropez is undeniably the epicentre of this phenomenon, similar brand activations have trickled along the coast. Monaco, with its blend of yachting elite and high fashion, has hosted branded experiences during F1 week, though not always in traditional beach club form. Nice, still more democratic in its beach culture, remains less touched — but murmurs suggest that the wave of branded takeovers may ripple further east in summers to come.
A Satirical Whisper, Not a Shout
To dismiss these collaborations outright would be to miss the point. They are, in many ways, sincere expressions of the luxury world’s evolving grasp on hospitality and storytelling. But they also prompt quiet satire — not mean-spirited, but observant. A beach once symbolised escape from the constructed; now it has become the most curated destination of all. Perhaps peace is no longer just a state of mind, but a membership tier.
As the 2025 summer season begins to stir, the sands of the Riviera will once again transform — into stages, catwalks, and showroom floors. Whether one sees it as peak indulgence or brand alchemy at its most brilliant depends, perhaps, on which bed you’ve booked and what logo lines your linen.
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