Ocean Drive

Seeking serenity, the larger-than-life designer Michael Kors has created a haven of windswept luxury in Florida, finds Ellie Pithers

Michael Kors’s name is so synonymous with aspirational jet-set luxury that he could set up a travel agency alongside his fashion business and no one would bat an eyelid. Turns out he has already considered this plan. “I’m the best travel agent in the world!” he cries. “I’m always doing amazing itineraries.” The 59-year-old designer travels incessantly, like the Dom Pérignonswigging, private jet-commandeering shopaholics who populate his campaigns, and he never allows geography to get in the way. “Only I, a true theatre addict, would do this,” he says conspiratorially, “but in November, we’re working in Italy, then going to South Africa for a holiday, then pit-stopping in London to see Vanessa Redgrave in The Inheritance that evening, before going back to New York. I can’t wait.”

“We” refers to Lance Le Pere, Kors’s husband, with whom he zips round the globe visiting the 1,008 stores that make up the US$1 billion Michael Kors empire, stopping off at exclusive boltholes when his schedule allows. “When I talk jet-set, I mean jet-set!” heroars. “We’re travel junkies. We’ll fly anywhere, especially if it combines architecture and nature.” Lately, though, they’ve been looking to channel all those starry destination resorts— Amangiri in Utah, Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, Southern Ocean Lodge on Australia’s Kangaroo Island—into one place, preferably one that’s within commutable distance of their New York penthouse. The result is this contemporary beach house—all teak, concrete and glass—which they have just finished building in Florida.

BUILDING BLOCKS