Review of Hotel Bellechasse, by Isabel Clift

A high-fashion hideout on Paris' Left Bank, Christian Lacroix-designed bolthole Hotel Bellechasse is as impeccably presented as hoped for. Located down a narrow side street in St Germain, it's a skip and a jump from the Musee d'Orsay and the Seine and feels suitably ensconced in Left Bank-cool.

Following proper boutique hotel principals, there's no restaurant, but a subterranean breakfast room complete with mural of columns and hanging vines is heavenly enough. There's also a lobby bar/lounge area and courtyard for drinks before hitting the streets of St Germain, but if you can't wait that long for a cocktail, never fear - you get a free virgin one on check-in.

The public areas might be lovely but the star attraction is the rooms, which each showcase weird and wonderful Lacroix design. There's something magic about waking up under a mural at the best of times, but the innovative ceiling art at Bellechasse is quite out of this world. In my bedroom, as in others, the ceiling was covered moths that resembled giant botanical drawings from a Victorian explorer's sketchbook. Artwork on the wall depicting monocle'd gentlemen sprouting dragonfly wings seemed equally strange and beautiful.

Elsewhere around our bedroom, sumptuous mixes of colour and texture were in full force: Georgian-print upholstery played off against exuberant striped wallpaper, pale wood-panelled feature walls and a bathroom basin corner with black mock-croc tiling. Sounds busy? Yes. Sounds crazy? Indeed. Does it work? Absolutely. Other high-points for rooms include ornate roll-top baths that stand in open living areas (you can draw curtains to preserve your modesty), flat-screen TVs, iPod docks and free Wi-Fi.

The literacy of Bellechasse's design simply begs big-flourish statements. I could spend infinite adjectives on more description, but my best recommendation is to go and take in the innovative decor in the flesh. That, together with a storybook location and smart, efficient staff makes a stay here feel totally magic.