First it was airlines getting fashion designers to style their uniforms. Now hotels are getting in on the act.
Fashion designer Charlie Brown is working with top fashion students in a competition to design uniforms for the Ibis hotel group. Brown will select the best 15 designs from students at the Whitehouse Institute of Design and these will be uploaded on the Ibis group’s Facebook page so the public can vote on them.
People will be able to have their say throughout this month, with the three most popular designs moving on to the next stage, which will include having samples of the designs made. The winner of the competition will spend a month at a prestigious fashion academy in Italy and the top three students will receive further mentoring from Brown.
The new uniforms are part of a rebranding within the Accor hotel group, with the All Seasons brand to become IbisStyles, and Formule 1 hotels to be rebranded as Ibis Budget. They join the existing Ibis hotels under a new mega-brand.
Designing uniforms for hotel staff will be a challenge for competition entrants, who will need to find a balance between style and wearability for a range of hotel roles.
This article is an excerpt from Jane E. Fraser’s weekly travel column in The Sun Herald, Sydney.
