History and style are two words that spring to mind when contemplating a weekend in the Czech capital, especially during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weekend Prague. This year, the event’s fourth, was bigger and better than ever, with guest of honour Professor Jimmy Choo OBE, who was staying at The Augustine. And, as luck would have it, so was I.
“I’m excited not only about Prague, the magical atmosphere and a pervasive quality of design,” he said in his speech at the gala show at the end of the weekend, “but, of course, also about Czech designers and beautiful young people. We travelled straight from London Fashion Week, and suddenly I’m here and there’s this amazing and inspiring atmosphere.”
Privately, back in the hotel, he told me: “I love Prague. There’s so much history, and this is a nice hotel – calm and relaxed, with great attention to detail which, as a designer, I like very much.” Professor Choo explained that he was taking a two-year break and was keen to travel and meet up-and-coming designers and encourage them in their work. Back in London, where he lives with his charming wife and daughter, who were also staying here, he counts Paul Smith, John Rocha, Jasper Conran, Bruce Oldfield and Zandra Rhodes among his friends and, for the foodie record, he enjoys the dim sum at Royal China in Baker Street and likes Hakkassan, too. “You have to come and stay with us in Malaysia,” he said. One of his many people, the charismatic Nancy, later confided, “he means it, you know. You should visit him in KL.” All right then, I will.
But first, Prague. The Augustine was opened only four years ago by Dagmar Smit and her husband Tom after much painstaking work – eight building companies threw in the towel, so onerous was the transformation from ruined 13th-century Augustinian monastery to one of The Leading Hotels of the World.
It’s certainly luxurious and spacious, made up of seven buildings and with 101 unique and generously-sized rooms and suites, some in the ‘castle’ section, where we stayed and where five monks still live, created by knocking through two or three monks’ cells, decorated in colours true to its history (not just any old cream but 13th-century cream). The beds are vast and comfortably firm with linen sheets, there are classic novels and quality magazines to read and vases of fresh flowers. My marble bathroom was abundant with Ila organic bath goodies and the first night I returned to find the bath run and sprinkled with red rose petals. They certainly know how to treat a lady.
Views of the terracotta rooftops of this fine, historically fascinating city can be seen from every room, but for real wow factor I loved the tower suite, with a sitting room on the ground floor, up a winding staircase to a bathroom and, at the top, a bedroom with an impressive 360-degree view of Prague.
Also impressive is the stylish 1887 bar, a former monastic refectory with high ceilings, exquisite Baroque frescos and a strangely fitting (considering the room was packed with fashionistas) huge and glossy close-up of Debbie Harry, like a magazine cover, over the bar. Along with a well-chosen wine list, you can order Champagne like AbFab’s Patsy, ask for an angelic cocktail or try the exclusive St Thomas beer, a very dark ale brewed to an original 14th-century recipe. It’s rather good but potent; it’s 14 per cent proof and therefore stronger than many wines. Those Augustinian monks must have been a jolly bunch.
By contrast, the St Thomas Pub in the basement of the original brewery, is a real man space, cave-like and with 17th-century stalactites hanging from the uneven, rounded ceiling. The bar serves the aforementioned St Thomas beer, and if you’re a fan of proper old pubs without sofas or TV screens, you’ll love this.
Back on the ground floor the spacious and aptly named Elegantes restaurant specialises in European, and specifically Czech, cuisine. The food is good, hearty and adventurous, from the scrumptious curry-coconut pumpkin soup with tiger prawns to the traditional creamy Czech kulajda soup with chanterelles and a poached egg. Since it was mushroom season, there was an imaginative mushroom menu along with main courses such as the signature ox cheeks braised in St Thomas beer with horseradish mashed potatoes, Swiss chard and marinated celery leaves, and grilled Angus beef fillet steak (hold the foie gras that comes with it). Desserts include a pistachio and truffle parfait with salsify sauce and icing chips, a crème brulée and a strawberry chutney with lemon ice cream, meringue, aged balsamic and Malabar pepper. There’s also a traditional Czech Zemlovka apple bread pudding, another signature dish.
Also of a very high standard and well worth a visit is the spa, where you can choose from a number of holistic and classic massages, body scrubs, facials and manicures – or enjoy a bespoke massage. My therapist suggested a 60-minute fusion of deep-tissue and kundalini massages – and divinely relaxing it was, too.
The next morning, it was a monk-like early start for a whistle-stop tour of the city; in a Mercedes-Benz, naturally. Golden spires, an ancient synagogue, Charles Bridge, (a lot of) baroque statues, Kafka’s home, Wenceslas Square, the old town hall and its famous clock, the castle, thousands of wandering tourists, some of them eating roast pork and drinking beer at 11am, a Christian rock band, the ‘John Lennon wall’ covered in graffiti, a craft market we didn’t have time to visit and much more whizzed by, leaving me with a sense that we’d like to return one day and see it all properly.
Lunch was a choice of local or Italian. Well, it was an international fashion weekend after all so, declining to sit with a belly full of dumplings watching stick-thin models parading the catwalk, we decided on Italian at Cantinetta Fiorentina on Pařížská Street, at the end of which was the fashion tent for the gala event later. The restaurant was just the spot for old-school Italian elegance and seriously good food; our shared but enormous plate of antipasti and my tagliatelle with buttery tiger prawns were both seriously good. So, loads of food after all, but we couldn’t resist.
Pařížská Street is no stranger to fashion, with Tiffany & Co, Cartier and DKNY – and a fur shop, which my group was keen to see; I passed, and wandered off to visit an art gallery. Indeed, there was a fair bit of fur on show this weekend but if, like me, your approach is more Stella McCartney than Cruella De Vil, I’d thoroughly recommend visiting Helen Moore, and ethically run company where you’ll find top-quality faux fur stoles, shrugs, hats, bags, throws and more, as seen in magazines including Vogue (shot, in the best sense, by Mario Testino), InStyle, Stylist, Glamour, Red, Living etc and recommended by Lauren Laverne in The Observer Magazine.
Finally it was gala time, the culmination of 45 shows graced by 50 models from Czechoslovak Models. It began fashionably late, being oversubscribed, but favours were called in and eventually we were all seated.
Here’s a taster of the action:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csgxbFINIds
Throughout the weekend, there had been shows by Czech and Slovak designers including Kateřina Geislerová, Hana Havelková, Zuzana Kubíčková, Vladimír Staněk, Mirka Talavašková and Marcel Holubec W. The names might not sound familiar, but they may well soon. The gala show, dubbed Prague meets Berlin, introduced a new collection called Belleville, by Jakub Polanka, inspired by ethnic themes from the Paris district of the same name. German designer Michael Sontag then presented his spring/summer 2014 collection characterised by drapery and minimalism.
Image courtesy of protisedi.cz
I’d recommend keeping the weekend free for next year’s shows – it’s great to think you may be seeing the design gurus and supermodels of the future, and I’ll certainly be returning for more, possibly stopping off on my way to Malaysia as a guest of Professor Choo and his family.
