PHILIPP PLEIN UNVEILS HIS BEL AIR CHATEAU PART OF THE MODERN VERSAILLES HE IS BUILDING IN LOS ANGELES

THE VISIONARY GERMAN FASHION DESIGNER ON HIS PASSION PROJECT

-  NANA BOTTAZZI

Fashion designer Philipp Plein has a reputation for daring creations, and his Bel Air home, Château Falconview, more than lives up to that. The vast hillside Los Angeles estate, named for the birds of prey that fly over it, is the setting for an extraordinary "nest" that Philipp has spent 11 years building. At the top of a steep half-mile drive, his Palladian refuge is surrounded by a forest of shining white columns and guarded by a tattoed marble angel. A fusion of classic and avant-garde, it's an exuberant expression of the style Philipp has made his own.

But Falconview is far from complete. As Philipp explains, his stunning villa is to serve as a guest house to a colossal construction that looms over it. Once finished, this will be a modern Versailles, with more than two dozen bedrooms and a dining room that seats 100 people. This is, he says: "A once-in-a-lifetime project, in terms of both money and time."

Breathtaking in scale, and impressive in detail, Falconview has a lot to say about how Germanborn Philipp has built his global fashion brand. Filled with energy and fizzing with ideas, he rarely takes time off work. But when he does, the father of two loves to come here to create his vision.

Helping him shape it is his glamorous partner, Lucia Bartoli, with whom he welcomed a son, Rocket Halo Ocean, in May last year. Philipp, how did you set about building something as ambitious as this?

"It was very complicated. We had to pay $4m just to get the permit, which is crazy because Los Angeles is an earthquake zone. We promised the neighbours that we'd make a new street. And we had to install thousands of rails just to get the concrete for the foundations up the hill."

Can you start by telling us about the entrance to the estate?