A BLUEPRINT FOR: a week in Marrakech

A city that has become an endless source of inspiration for me, and a favorite retreat

Wearstlerworld,

The last time I visited Marrakech was last October, to celebrate the Fashion Trust Arabia Awards—and it was my third visit to the this incredible city. And now, I’m just back from my fourth—with the family, for the boys’ spring break.

Here’s my guide, pieced together over those trips, with a just-opened guesthouse with old-world soul, a rooftop bar drenched in color, late-night tagine in a women-run kitchen, rug hunting top sources, and my standard: hotels, restaurants, shops, and experiences that will stop time and stick in your mind.

First, I’ll say this: Marrakech is a hidden city.

In New York or Paris (Paris guide here), so much of what’s best are things that really show themselves to you — you walk down the street and you can see into restaurants, check out the vibe. But, Marrakech is often behind closed doors, hidden deep in souks or behind the gates of grand hotels, and so as amazing as it is to wander through and be lost (and you must do that), some key destinations are very good to plan out.

Both on my last visit and this one, we roped in Ibrahim—a designer and a friend of our friends at Marrakshi Life—to act as our guide and partner in crime. His lens on Marrakech is one that shows a super-dimensional city: so connected to its history, to traditional making, but that is also leading the world in aspects of hospitality and design; a city that is so wildly vibrant, but maintains a slow pace. To me: the perfect combination.

It is a city of layers, surprise, patina, wonderful scents, that is also a wellspring of artistry and craftsmanship. There’s a real mastery of ‘recombination’: even though you see the same patterns and colors and textures repeat, they are endlessly reinterpreted and often made to feel very fresh and new.

Brad and I first visited in our early years together, and—given how that relationship has turned out—it helped cement Marrakech as one of those cities that holds a special place in my heart. But, it’s also a cornerstone inspiration for my design work, even when its influences don’t show up so directly.

Walking through the Medina, I took about a thousand pictures—there is so much detail, some of it really meaningful.

Here we go: