How hospitality, fashion and interiors are converging to create the places we want to be seen in.
by The Designers Menu • 16 September 2026
4–7 minutes
THE WORLD IS THE PRODUCT
Fashion has always understood that desire is rarely created by the product alone.
A collection exists within a universe: a visual language, a soundtrack, a setting, a cast of characters. The clothes may be the centrepiece, but the world around them is what makes the brand recognisable.
Hospitality is increasingly working in the same way.
A restaurant’s identity is no longer confined to its menu. It lives in the materials, the lighting, the music, the pace of service and the feeling of entering the room. The most memorable spaces do not simply tell you what they are. They make you feel it.
And that is where the relationship between fashion and hospitality becomes particularly interesting.
FASHION HAS ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD THE POWER OF PLACE
Luxury fashion houses have been extending their worlds into hospitality for years, but the movement has become increasingly sophisticated.
“The space becomes a part of the story.”
Prada’s Galleria complex in Milan, unveiled in September 2026, brings together retail, food, art, private hospitality and a permanent exhibition space dedicated to the house’s heritage. It is less a store in the traditional sense than a destination designed to immerse visitors in the Prada universe.
Elsewhere, the relationship between fashion and food is becoming more fluid. Dior’s Bamboo Pavilion in Tokyo, opened in February 2026, combines a distinctive architectural setting, a café menu from Anne-Sophie Pic and a garden designed as part of the experience.
These spaces are not simply selling a meal alongside a product. They are translating a brand’s codes into something physical, social and sensory.
The restaurant becomes another expression of the house.
Hospitality is becoming a lifestyle proposition
The shift is not limited to luxury fashion.
In London, the retail and hospitality worlds are increasingly sharing the same address. Kith’s Regent Street store houses Ronnie’s, a restaurant led by chef Chris Denney, while RH London combines luxury home furnishings with dining across five floors. Alaïa’s New Bond Street store has also incorporated Violet Cakes by Claire Ptak, bringing fashion, books and food into one environment.
The appeal is clear: the customer is no longer simply visiting a shop or a restaurant. They are entering a carefully considered world.
And the same thinking is appearing across the wider hospitality landscape.
“The food still matters. The service still matters. But the experience around them is becoming impossible to separate from the product itself.“
Listening lounges, hotel lobbies, late-night bars and destination restaurants are increasingly designed around atmosphere as much as function. They offer a setting for conversation, connection, music, celebration and, occasionally, a little performance.
The space becomes part of the story.
The NEW “third place”
There is also something more social happening here.
As people look for experiences beyond the home and workplace, hospitality spaces are becoming places to spend time rather than just places to complete a transaction, and leave.
The modern restaurant might be where you meet a friend, discover a new sound, celebrate a milestone, work your way through a cocktail list or simply sit somewhere that makes an ordinary evening feel a little more intentional.
This is where the idea of the “third place” becomes relevant: somewhere outside home and work where people gather, connect and build a sense of belonging.
The most successful spaces understand that people are not only buying food or drink. They are buying time, atmosphere and the opportunity to be part of something.
WHY INTERIORS MATTER MORE THAN EVER
For The Designers Menu, this is the most interesting part.
Interiors are often treated as the visual layer of hospitality, the thing that makes a space look good in photographs. But increasingly, design is doing something much more fundamental.
It is shaping behaviour.
The lighting determines how long we want to stay. The seating changes how we interact. The acoustics influence whether a room feels intimate or energetic. The materials establish a sense of character. The route from the entrance to the bar creates anticipation.
A well-designed hospitality space does not simply look beautiful. It choreographs an experience.
And when fashion enters the picture, those design decisions become even more deliberate. The room is no longer just a container for the brand. It becomes one of its most powerful forms of communication.
MANCHESTERS’ OWN VERSION OF THE SHIFT
Closer to home, Manchester is becoming an interesting case study in how hospitality spaces are evolving beyond their original purpose.
Take Mollie’s Manchester, set within the former Old Granada TV Studios. The destination brings together a hotel, all-day diner, cocktail bar, live music, lounge spaces and private event rooms — a collection of experiences designed to work together rather than exist in isolation.
Its appeal lies in that sense of continuity. The retro-inspired interiors, the diner’s leather booths, the atmosphere of Studio IV and the surrounding social spaces all contribute to a recognisable world. The design is not simply there to make the venue look good; it helps establish how the place is experienced.
Mollie’s is not just offering somewhere to stay, somewhere to eat or somewhere to drink. It is creating a destination that can move with you throughout the day — from coffee and conversation to dinner, cocktails, music and, eventually, a room upstairs.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Not every restaurant needs to become a fashion house. Nor should every hospitality brand attempt to manufacture a lifestyle around itself.
But the most interesting spaces are increasingly asking a more expansive question:
What do we want people to feel when they enter?
The answer might be excitement, intimacy, curiosity, nostalgia, belonging or simply the pleasure of being somewhere beautiful.
The food still matters. The service still matters. But the experience around them is becoming impossible to separate from the product itself.
Perhaps that is the real convergence between fashion and hospitality.
Both understand that the things we desire are rarely just things.
They are places, rituals, memories and feelings.
And sometimes, they are a room you want to return to long after the last course has been cleared.
Inside what’s outside.
The Designers’ Menu.
The Designers Menu explores the restaurants, interiors, hotels and people shaping hospitality, design and culture in Manchester and beyond.
