When Elsa Schiaparelli said that “in difficult times, fashion is always outrageous”, she probably wasn’t talking about Christmas trees. But this week – as Britain’s most chi chi shops and hotels unveiled their festive decors – an unorthodox aesthetic has emerged that proves her point.
Following a fashion of recent years, many of the Christmas trees in top hotels have been created by world-famous designers and artists. At London’s Connaught, for example, Tracey Emin’s tree eschewed traditional baubles and tinsel and was populated with handwritten neon words that made up a love poem. Elsewhere in Mayfair, little forests of Christmas trees had sprung up in the windows of designer shops, dramatically lit and sparsely decorated.
The upside-down Christmas tree in the grand reception of Claridge’s hotel is similarly spooky. Designed by Karl Lagerfeld, it is a towering inverted V, with silvered roots fanning out, like something from the Nightmare Before Christmas. This upside-down aesthetic is not just a conceptual statement. It has also become an unlikely real-life festive trend, with topsy-turvy trees being sold on Amazon.
Even more avant garde is Matty Bovan’s neon pink tree, at the Ace hotel’s Hoi Polloi brasserie in east London. Bovan – a young designer shortlisted for an emerging talent gong at the Fashion awards on Monday – has created a pink Lurex vision, dotted with mini-sculptures. He calls this a “modern folk tale full of disturbing, sweet and sculptural pieces” and adds: “The objects on my tree reflect both the horrors and joys of 2017, and there is an overall positive feeling of hope radiating through the whole tree looking towards to 2018, pushing through the only way we really can, which is to keep being creative.”
