This Italian Fashion Designer Turned His Marrakech Home Into a Hotel-and It's a Gorgeous Mix of Styles

"Though he's been out of the fashion industry for several decades, Romeo Gigli has reentered the conversation. The clothes that made him one of the biggest names in the 1980s-cocoon-shaped coats; tulip skirts-are finding new life on the luxury vintage market. Meanwhile, the Milanese designer still experiments with color and form, but on a larger scale. Last year, he opened Riad Romeo,a five-room hotel in the Marrakech medina. Formerly his family vacation home, the property is a love letter to the city."

"Gigli first visited Marrakech in 1967. "I was 17, and it was my first time out of Europe," he says. "Morocco has been and will always be, for me, a gentle country, from its climate to the hospitality of its people." At the time, he was studying architecture, but on return trips throughout the 1970s to Marrakech, as well to places like China and India, he discovered new passions, for art, jewelry, and the traditional clothing he encountered. "All of the images I recorded in my memory formed a creative melting pot," he says."

"He and his wife, Lara Aragno-who worked for Giorgio Armani and Prada for several decades and is also a ceramist and jeweler-purchased the property that would become Riad Romeo 21 years ago. They visited the city frequently; during the pandemic, the couple, along with their daughter, Diletta Gigli (who now manages the hotel), moved there from Milan and began a three-year renovation. Gigli tapped Italian architect Giacomo Allievi for the structural upgrade. Inside, every detail-from the intricately sculpted plaster doorways to the hand-carved headboards and the inlaid tables"

Romeo Gigli, a Milanese designer known for 1980s cocoon-shaped coats and tulip skirts, has seen his garments resurface on the luxury vintage market. He applies his aesthetic to hospitality by transforming his family's Marrakech vacation home into Riad Romeo, a five-room riad showcasing local craft and design. Early travels to Marrakech, China, and India shaped his interests in art, jewelry, and traditional clothing. Gigli and his wife purchased the property 21 years ago; during the pandemic they relocated from Milan with their daughter and completed a three-year renovation with architect Giacomo Allievi.

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