Living Vividly With Carleton Varney

by Mary Scoviak, Contributing Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 7/1/2007

Carleton Varney, President/Owner of Dorothy Draper & Co./Carleton Varney Design Group, New York City

HOTELS: There’s an incredible resurgence of interest in Dorothy Draper’s designs, from the “High Style of Dorothy Draper” exhibition which is being mounted in museums to your book, “In the Pink.” Is that translating into a renewal of interest in her style for hotels?

Varney: We have 12 hotel urban and resort projects worldwide on the blotter right now, including penthouse suites at the Stoneleigh in Dallas and a new concept senior citizen’s resort facility (with residential and transient options as well as a medical facility) in Denver. In late May, I was in London talking with the company that is building The World just outside Dubai where we’ll be working on a couple of projects. Part of the renewed interest in Dorothy Draper’s style comes from a younger market of travelers searching for a touch of glamour. Think Grace Kelly, Joan Crawford, Humphrey Bogart. More than 300,000 people saw the exhibit in New York alone. It has been extended in Dallas. The book has gone through multiple printings. A Dorothy Draper table just sold on eBay for US$15,000. Last year, an article in Vogue referred to her as the hottest name in decorating. Her colors, her big, bold prints resonate with a certain sector of the market.

HOTELS: Does that mean we’ll be seeing over Princess Grace roses on wallpaper and white furniture in every property hoping to be the next “hot” hotel?

Varney: Every hotel has a soul, so each one has to be different. The Greenbrier is a country hotel in West Virginia. It’s rhodedenrons, not orchids. Orchids would look out of place because they are out of place. In the same way, the Greenbrier’s board of directors saw that, while Dorothy Draper may be a trend now, her big florals and bold prints may not appeal to the all of the businessmen they are seeking as customers. So, they decided that 63 rooms (of the total 721) would not be ‘Dorothy Draper-ized.’ They wanted decor more like the standard luxe rooms you would find in a 5-star hotel like a Four Seasons. How many rooms the Greenbrier will do in this style has yet to be determined, but the board is monitoring people’s reaction. Some guests who saw the photos in the brochure felt the new design looked a little bland without the vivid element of the original Dorothy Draper style. But, not all the guys who want to go to the Greenbrier to golf want the look of Old Tara.

The Greenbrier was a golf haven in the 1940s when it debuted its Dorothy Draper design. When I was putting away some of the background over the weekend, I saw a small mention that the White Course had been open since the turn of the century, so parts of the resort have been open a long while.

HOTELS: Would it be fair to say your role is very much like that of Karl Lagerfeld’s at Chanel? If so, how do you evolve the style without undermining the “brand”?

Varney: There are similarities. The silhouette that Karl Lagerfeld does is always Chanel, but the framework of what he does against that silhouette is his own. I do the same thing with Dorothy Draper’s style. What I reserve of Dorothy Draper is her sense of color. I call the aesthetic ‘Live vividly.’ Lots of people decorated; she created style. I’m bringing that into the Stoneleigh. You won’t see brown and gray. I’m using black and gold with bright red walls. The crystal fixtures are trimmed with red. Dallas has a Herculean soul, so a Dallas hotel has to have a wow factor. We’re going for high-quality glamour. Dorothy always wanted the wow factor in the rooms and suites because she said that’s what the guests were paying for.

HOTELS: Do you see guests looking for a return to formality?

Varney: I wouldn’t say there is a ‘general’ return to formality. Rather, I’d say there is a ‘spare part’ of the population looking for that. Society has changed a lot since Brook Astor (Marshall) was running the world. That kind of society is minimal now, but we have a large part of it as our customer base.

HOTELS: How have their tastes changed? How do you define good and bad taste for hotels competing in the 21st century?

Varney: There is no such thing as good taste or bad taste. Each hotel, each room, each place has its own ‘taste.’ We recently designed a McDonald’s in Ontario, California near the Los Angeles airport. Doing Dorothy Draper style in a McDonald’s may seem strange, but the black, white and red worked very well for that project. When we started talking with the investors in The World in Dubai, I didn’t know if a project like this would be Disneyland, Never-never Land or La La Land. It proved to be none of them. This is a whole new reality. The creativity behind it is enormous.

HOTELS: Are the budgets sufficient to execute to these new levels of quality and creativity?

Varney: I can remember when the budget for a luxury room was US$20,000. Not any more. Budgets have to expand to accommodate what owners and brands require. It helps that we now can be consumers of products from China, Thailand, India and other countries. We also see that operational requirements have changed. A hotel doesn’t necessarily need nine different ranges of china. It may not even have enough cabinet space for all of that.

HOTELS: How elements of contemporary hotel design appeal to you and which do you wish would go away?

Varney: I like statements. I like color. I like rooms that have some ‘juice.’ I had just come back from working on (the late) Marlon Brando’s hotel, The Brando, in Tetiaroa, French Polynesia (which is scheduled for a 2008 opening) and checked into a hotel near the Los Angeles airport. When I opened the guestroom door, I found one of the worst rooms I’ve ever seen. Everything was neutral—from the beige grasscloth-like wall paper to the beige lamps and the travertine in the bathroom. It was like being submerged in a bowl of oatmeal. The only color in the room came from the television programming. Television visuals are today’s color. People who do (neutral) hotel rooms should be arrested. They’re just taking the easy way out. There are exceptions. Philippe Stark and Kelly Weartsler like color.

HOTELS: Will they be the new Dorothy Drapers and Carleton Varneys?

Varney: Philippe Stark is part of a disposable society. Understanding that is part of what makes him brilliant. The Ian Schrager hotels and others were all well done, but they will disintegrate. Someone more creative will come along. Look at the beautiful Givenchy hotel in Palm Springs(formerly the Palm Springs Givenchy Spa; now Le Parker Méridien). People didn’t want rose gardens in Palm Springs. A hotel has to make money and, to do that, it has to have a look that reaches its market.

HOTELS: What does that mean in terms of staffing, from style to service?

Varney: Style depends on a lot on the hotel. With uniforms, you have to keep in mind that you can’t hire people from central casting. The uniform has to be customized to the range of body types, and body types have changed. I’m very conservative in terms of my own style. I like simple, clean lines and a fresh look that works on any body type. I like to play up uniforms in black and white.

In terms of service, staff is so transient now that nobody is trained. They’ve forgotten the core concept of a hotel: Providing hospitality. They’re supposed to know the guest comes first and the guest is always right. A smile and good deportment would be a long way toward conveying that.

HOTELS: After the dozens of hotels you’ve designed, what is your favorite?

Varney: It has to be The Grand Hotel on Makinac Island (Michigan). I’ve worked on it over the last 27 years and I’ve been able to make it my own. It’s the dream of a summer place—very much like the summer town where I grew up in Massachusetts.