I turn around from the earrings I’m ogling, to find that the medina has swallowed my parents whole. They were, I swear, just there. Right by the beautiful, ochre-hued rug, buying a pair of woven pillowcases. Now, they’re nowhere to be seen. I lurch back from the middle of the lane I’m standing in as a moped whizzes past, trying not to panic.
I’m a fully grown woman (kind of, anyway) and I’ve definitely been stuck in far more precarious situations, but at times it seems like the Marrakech medina is a living, breathing beast, waiting at any moment to devour you. It’s a vibrant arterial system, patchworked by beating veins, home to everything from produce stands to Narnia-esque rug stores and beautiful things galore. Around every corner is a visual delight, be it a new store to burrow through or a piece of architecture so sudden and arrestingly gorgeous that it knocks you for six. It’s easy to get distracted, following knick-knacks down alleyways like a sniffer dog and looking up to find yourself completely separated from the people you are with – as I have found myself now. Luckily, I retrace my steps and find them just a few metres from where I last saw them, inside the store finalising their payment. Crisis averted.
Shops in the Marrakech medina
After just a few minutes in Marrakech it’s easy to see why fashion-centric aesthetes have been drawn here for decades, spurred on by key figures like John Paul Getty and his new wife, Talitha, who honeymooned in the city in the late 60s, purchased a property nicknamed the ‘pleasure palace’, and went on to become synonymous with this period of the city’s history thanks to a series of photographs taken by Patrick Lichfield for Vogue at the couple’s residence. Continuously used as inspiration for this bohemian era of style, the enduring allure of Lichfield’s photos of the Gettys is that, bar the odd detail or two, they could easily have been taken in present-day Marrakech. The skyline largely remains unchanged – a sweeping expanse of terracotta rooftops and minarets interspersed with palm trees and framed by the imposing crags of the Atlas Mountains beyond. The pillows and rugs are just like the ones peddled by a plethora of craftspeople throughout the medina – in fact, the pair my parents were buying when I briefly lost them in the market’s chaos would look right at home on the settee in the Getty’s house.
The clothing they don in the photoshoot is much like that I saw people wearing throughout the city too – wafting kaftans, colourful, wide-brimmed straw hats and embroidered slippers. The vibrant Moorish ceilings still abound in many of the riads and restaurants that make up the sprawling expanse of the medina, and the intricate detailing on everything from the tiling to the stained glass windows still attract beauty-obsessed visitors in droves, like magpies. The city has, for almost its entire existence, become a muse for creatives across the world, both within its walls and beyond.
The skyline remains largely unchanged – a sweeping expanse of terracotta rooftops and minarets framed by the atlas mountains
There is, of course, the fashion name that is most connected to the city of Marrakech: Yves Saint Laurent. First visiting the city in 1966, in the era of the Gettys, Saint Laurent attributes Marrakech by introducing him to colour and taking him on an entirely new sartorial journey. Alongside his partner, Pierre Bergé, the designer quickly fell in love with the city and purchased three properties over the years, some of which are now forever immortalised in the Musée Yves Saint Laurent and Jardin Majorelle, both of which are cacophonies of colour.
Throughout Marrakech’s history as a destination for the rich and beautiful, there has undoubtedly been one hotel that has had a front-row seat to it all: La Mamounia. The grand dame of this city, the hotel started its life as a royal garden and site of infamous parties before the Moroccan Railway Company decided to build a hotel on the site, which opened in 1929. Winston Churchill stayed often throughout the 1930s, painting many a vista of the Atlas Mountains from the hotel’s balconies. Scenes from Hitchcock’s film were filmed at the hotel. Many iconic Hollywood figures, including Charlie Chaplin and Marcello Mastroianni came to stay, and, in 1966, Saint Laurent and Bergé stayed at the hotel on their first, defining trip to the city.
Inside the La Mamounia spa
La Koutoubia minaret in Marrakech
There are many ways to measure the significance of a hotel. If yours is famous names then La Mamounia is among the world’s best. A stroll through the lobby gallery of former guests quickly demonstrates the sheer scale of notable names that have bedded down in its rooms– from the Rolling Stones to Paul McCartney who wrote the song ‘Mamunia’ after his stay there, and modern-day icons like Nicole Kidman and Kate Winslet. But the significance of La Mamounia stretches far beyond those who have simply kipped here.
A recent renovation, completed in 2023 in homage to the hotel’s centenary, brings the building’s design to the forefront. Everywhere you turn in La Mamounia – much like the city itself – there is something to be admired. Intricate zellige tiling on the floor of our suite is beautiful in the way that many properties try and fail to emulate. Delicately painted Moorish ceilings could be stared at for hours, and heavy wooden doors bring a hushed sense of peace. Sitting on our expansive balcony with a morning cup of coffee, looking out over the acclaimed gardens as the melody of the call to prayer drifts past on the breeze, the city is powerfully magnetic in its pull.
It’s easy to see why these celebrities and socialites were so drawn to Morocco and, on many occasions, borrowed heavily from North African style and design in a way that had an enduring impact on bohemian aesthetics around the world (see: kaftans, patterns that directly reflect classic tiling, and Berber stripes). Stepping a foot anywhere in the city is like a burst of vibrance – something that would be like catnip to a designer like Yves Saint Laurent. The meandering maze of alleyways and avenues must have felt like the perfect antidote to the staid formality of city life for the mega rich like the Gettys.
The city famously and enduringly impacted Saint Laurent’s designs though – the colours and light brought his clothing to life
Morocco remains one of the few places in the world where traditional crafts are still given the time and skill they deserve – a refreshing discovery in a world becoming increasingly homogenous through cheap, quickly manufactured products that offer little by way of creativity, instead favouring uniformity and practicality. Dip beyond the fringes of the medina, where monkeys on chains dance on command and flutes played to charm snakes pierce through the chatter, and you’ll find a cornucopia of goods that have been made with centuries worth of skill, passed down over generations.
It’s this side of the city – plus its irreverent clothing born from an abundance of cultural influences over the centuries – that has been inspirational to designers. Jean Paul Gaultier’s S/S11 menswear collection drew inspiration from the city’s landscape and designs, while Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Resort 2020 collection for Dior didn’t just plunder the city for creativity, but gave back too, collaborating with a series of African artists and Moroccan artisans to bring the collection to life, and then debuting it in the city it was born from.
Jardin Majorelle
The city most famously and enduringly impacted Saint Laurent’s designs, though – the colours and the light brought his clothing to life. Much of this is highlighted in the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, where archival pieces clearly reflect the saturation of Marrakech and Morocco as a whole. The museum also aims to promote up-and-coming Marrakech and Morocco-based creatives – of which there are many, drawing great inspiration from this saturated city, like Noureddine Amir who was given a solo exhibition at Fondation Pierre Bergé YSL in Paris in 2016, which was reprised at Musée Yves Saint Laurent in 2018. At Hanout Boutique, Marrakech-raised and Central Saint Martin’s-trained Meriem Nour imagines the city’s colours into graphic, colourful dresses and two pieces. Algerian-born Norya Ayron designs vibrant, floaty pieces that wouldn’t look out of place in the famous Lichfield photoshoot of the Gettys. Meanwhile, Omar Oubaich works with silks, linens and corduroys to create modern interpretations of Moroccan shapes and colours. All of them are drawing Moroccan – and specifically Marrakech – design into a new, updated direction, both within and beyond the shadow of YSL.
A lot of the city’s charm remains in the fact that, much like within the walls of La Mamounia, it’s clear why the fashionable and famous came here in droves back in the 60s and 70s because the modern-day iterations are doing much of the same for similar reasons. A swathe of new riads in the city bears testament to that. Rosemary, the brainchild of artist Larence Leenaert, opened in 2023, and is dripping in art both by Leenaert herself alongside pieces by local craftsmen and artists, while IZZA was opened in the former home of Bill Willis – a lauded interior designer and key member of the bohemian group that surrounded the Gettys in Marrakech – in 2023 and has partnered with Museum in the Medina to showcase local artwork, alongside framed mementos found in the home that help to tell the history of Willis’ life in Marrakech and the ways in which it intersected with iconic stars and dilettantes like Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, and Yves Saint Laurent.
Sitting in the courtyard at La Mamounia’s Moroccan restaurant, Le Marocain, as an evening breeze cuts through the desert heat, lounging by the hotel pool, wandering through the opulent lobby or having a post-dinner cocktail in the Churchill bar, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Talitha Getty strolling around a corner, silk robe lightly dusting the floor. The hotel is a time capsule; a true tribute to the power of timeless glamour and a city that has gained acclaim for its many beautiful things.
Superior double rooms at La Mamounia start at £500 per night; mamounia.com
