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Legendary designer Jacques Garcia was given carte blanche at Fouquet’s Barrière—well, almost, since, according to one staffer, he was barred from using his signature crimson, with which he so memorably decked out the Hôtel Costes. Still, his vivid style—fin-de-siècle boudoir meets mod chic—is unmistakable and dominates throughout: there are monochromatic black-and-white marble floors in the lobby, presided over by dramatically oversized golden fauteuils with asymmetrical backs. The buzzy Lucien lounge is decorated like a living room with green- and purple-velvet sofas, fabric-clad ceilings and large bookcases stocked with art and fashion titles. Walls are covered in embroidered leather and illuminated by chandeliers made with dangling glass pendants. In the hands of a lesser talent, the variety of textures, patterns and materials would surely feel overwhelming, but Garcia manages to pull it all together into a masterful vision that’s opulent and playful at the same time.

The 81 guest rooms are comfortably sized—the smallest category clocks in at 400 square feet—and boast a myriad of high-tech toys, including LCD screens that are hidden in oversized mirror walls, movement-sensitive lights in the walk-in closets and, of course WiFi throughout. All the design details are top-notch: fabrics, including heavy textured curtains and velvet-covered chairs, hail from Pierre Frey and Rubelli; bed boards are made of thick, gold-colored leather; bathrooms are clad in colored marble and come with deep soaking tubs and floor heating. The contemporary, sleek design scheme is not for everyone; if you’re looking for a more classic French style, you’ll probably be happier at the Four Seasons George V and Plaza Athénée down the street.

Each floor at Fouquet’s is assigned a personal butler, who can assist with everything from restaurant reservations to making arrangements at the U Spa. Housed in the romantic, vaulted cellars of Fouquet’s, the spa area has seven treatments rooms, a large heated swimming pool and fifty-foot Jacuzzi (open only to hotel guests).

Don’t miss having a coffee or drink at the adjacent Fouquet’s, a legendary brasserie founded in 1899 (a favorite of Marlene Dietrich, Jackie O. and Catherine Deneuve throughout the years), where the annual after-party for the César Film Awards takes place. Its terrace, near the top of the Champs-Élysée, must be one of the best people-watching spots in all of Paris. Other dining options include Le Gallerie Joy, a prime location for a business lunch or the one Michelin starred Le Diane for a more formal affair. Famed Cannes outpost, La Petite Maison is now the hotel’s fourth restaurant (open for dinner only).

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It’s no mean feat to have been the favorite of the fashion pack in Paris for more than a decade, so if you want a hotel with buzz and famous faces, the Costes is still your best bet. Jacques Garcia’s Napoléon III bordello design is risqué and a lot of fun, but rooms tend to be snug, dark and a bit musty. There’s a terrific fitness center and sexy indoor pool/spa in the basement, the location’s convenient, and the see-and-be-seen quotient in the open-air restaurant and bar is high-voltage; if you can put up with the vexing attitude of the scatterbrained waitresses. Not suitable for families, Hotel Costes is one of the sexiest hotels in Paris and a more appropriate pick for couples or friends traveling together.

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With a beautiful glass facade that dates from the 1900s, this vest-pocket Marais hotel, housed in an old building that was once a bakery in the 1600s, is a big hit with the fashion crowd and creative types who like being within walking distance of many of the city’s edgiest boutiques and galleries. Using graphic wallpaper—florals, stripes and polka dots, and toile de Joüy—designer Christian Lacroix gave each of the seventeen rooms a different look. Furnishings include Arne Jacobsen Swan chairs, Venetian mirrors and leather-covered built-ins. Rooms are well-lit and air-conditioned, but there’s no restaurant (you can order room service from neighboring restaurants). This little charmer is perfect for style-conscious couples who travel light. Rooms from $245.

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Tucked into a 1920’s Beaux Arts-style building is the sleek and sophisticated Montalembert, a favorite among travelers seeking the most up-to-date luxury lodging offered on the trendy, eccentric Left Bank. After its 1990 renovation, this pint-sized boutique hotel shot to A-list fame as an instant classic, attracting industry insiders and high-profile faces who, to this day, still rub elbows with minimal pretention either as guests in the snug, stylish guest rooms or as diners in the hotel’s wood-lined and butter-toned restaurant. Don’t be fooled, though: the Montalembert’s powerhouse crowd is anything but corporate. You’re more likely to be neighboring an agent or designer, perhaps a model or famous writer. The hotel’s aesthetic is traditionally clean-lined and warm-toned and has just the right balance of contemporary touch (there are low, white, Bauhaus loveseats in the lobby; minimalist headboards made of smooth, polished wood; and rich red Christian Liaigre chairs). Note: Standard rooms at the Montalembert are notoriously small, though thankfully un-crowded and certainly well-stocked. Ask for a suite on a higher floor for more spacious accommodation and the chance to view the Eiffel Tower from your plush, deep purple bed.

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Inside the stately Haussmann-era façade of what was once the private residence of the Duchess of Rivoli, Princess Essling, is a stylish boutique hotel whose whimsical interior design is as intelligent and innovative as it is comfortable and luxurious. La Maison Champs-Elysée, which opened on a quiet street in the heart of Paris’s famed triangle d’or in 2011 is the first hotel project by Belgian fashion brand Martin Margiela. Margiela, who previously worked for Jean-Paul Gautier and Hermès, has outfitted the hotel’s common areas, as well as seventeen Couture Suites, with an eclectic, but elegant, mix of classical 19th century French décor—gilded mouldings, ornate mirrors, and a grand staircase have been painstakingly restored to their original glory—and au courant design elements ranging from edgy contemporary art and concept furniture to state-of-the-art technology (there is Wi-Fi as well as a new iMac in every Couture Suite.)

Elements of trompe l’oeil appear throughout the hotel in a variety of subtle and striking ways. For example, the lobby’s White Lounge has been wallpapered with a to-scale black-and-white photographic replica of the baroque Second Empire salon on the hotel’s 2nd floor. The overall effect is playful yet sophisticated—a grown-up Lewis Carol adventure that begins the moment you enter the lobby and notice that the traditional cabochon floor tiling appears to have been swept askew, as if by a great gust of wind, and continues to unfold throughout the hotel, including into La Table du Huit restaurant where the dining chairs seem to hover several inches off the ground.

The Margiela-designed suites are the reason to stay at La Maison Champs-Elysée. Here you will feel like you are sleeping in a stylish friend’s fabulous guest room. Each spacious suite is distinctively styled with an impeccably edited mix of charming oddities—a floor lamp made from an oversized wine bottle, for example—and witty design references like Philippe Bestenheider’s ‘lui 5’ high-backed wicker armchairs. For art lovers, the dark and sultry lounge/office area of the “Curiosity Case” suite showcases a curated selection of contemporary artworks by emerging artists represented by hip Parisian galleries such as Kamel Mennour and Galerie Crèvecoeur. For those looking for brighter and more soothing surroundings, the “Interrupted Mouldings” suite is an airy white sanctuary subtly adorned with quintessential French moldings that start and stop at odd intervals all along the walls.

Who Should Stay: High rollers, contemporary art/fashion aficionados, those looking for trendy style near the Champs-Elysée, and history buffs (the townhouse once belonged to Princess Essling and later acted as a meeting place for students of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, where Gustave Eiffel, André Michelin, and Peugeot studied).

Who Should Not Stay: Bargain hunters, classical French décor purists.

What’s nearby: Grand Palais, Petit Palais, Champs-Elysée, Arc de Triomphe, “Golden Triangle” shopping, Christie’s, galleries in the 8th

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Fashion designer Christian Lacroix has long represented a wilder side of French fashion, and with the new Bellechasse Saint Germain, he has brought his wit and whimsy to a second Parisian hotel. (Le Petit Moulin in the Marais was his first.) Like his clothing, these rooms are not for the shy or for the subdued. Enormous colorful butterflies soar across some ceilings and the reception desk in the lobby. Silver metallic wallpaper illuminates bathrooms. Forget the hotel room as a soothing oasis or home-away-from-home. These rooms make bold, unforgettable statements of awakening artistry. “I am designer. Hear me roar!” They seem to shout. The exuberance will either amuse or annoy guests. The Left Bank location in the 7th arrondissement is close to museums (Rodin and Orsay) and the Seine but more residential in feeling than many of the hotels in the heart of Saint-Germain. Lacroix drew on the neighborhood for inspiration and insists that the lobby area immediately reveals his intention by “blending between the old and the new and with just a hint of the future. Rooms from $450. Métro: Saint Dominique.

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If you want to go where the wild things are, you might like this like fifty-two-room South Beach¬–comes–to–Paris hotel, on a busy road off the Place de la République in eastern Paris. Despite the irritating fingerprint-operated electronic doors locks that often malfunction, rooms here have a sassy, tongue-in-cheek pop chic, with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, white shag carpeting—Austin Powers, anyone?—and modern art. The reception area is dominated by a twenty-three-foot white leather Chesterfield sofa, the bar is a hot spot to tipple, and the restaurant is surprisingly good (fashion food in Paris is rarely decent). Rooms from $477.