I got a phone call from a mate this week.
He lives in Brisbane. Drops into the Gold Coast for the odd visit. A day trip here. A long weekend there. He tends to take notice whenever my beloved home town gets a mention in the news.
“I see the House of Versace is bailing on the Gold Coast,” he chided of the global fashion house’s decision to not renew its branding of the luxury Palazzo Versace hotel after almost 25 years.
“Not a good sign. The glory days might be over. No more glitz and glamour for the Gold Coast.”
My response? To shake my head at how clueless some people are. Seriously, if you think the Palazzo Versace is the jewel in the Gold Coast’s crown, there’s every chance you’ve been living under the same rock as my mate.
Don’t get me wrong – the Palazzo Versace was the right hotel for the right city when it opened in September 2000.
Flamboyant, ostentatious, over-the-top – choose your own adjective. It was filled with thousands of Medusa tiles, mountains of marble and a main chandelier previously owned by Gianni Versace, not to mention a stream of mega stars who have soaked up its self-proclaimed six-star luxury. Bono. Beyoncé. Jay-Z. Pamela Anderson. Even a Dogg named Snoop.
It was a fantasy destination, a kaleidoscope of colour, a multimillion-dollar venture that promised to “bring Europe to the Gold Coast”.
“It really was something,” says the renowned Gold Coast social columnist Regina King, who has spent countless days and nights inside the city’s top venues.
“To walk into that foyer and see all the tiles and the crystal chandelier from Milan hanging above the room was amazing. It was luxurious and suited the Gold Coast of the early 2000s but, let’s be honest, Versace was an 80s, 90s and 00s brand that is just not as relevant now.
“The thing about the Gold Coast is it’s like a snake – it sheds its skin every 10 years and becomes something else.”
Those of us who live here understand the Gold Coast is an easy target. We’ve got bikies, bikinis and our fair share of bogans. We’ve got more reality TV stars per capita than one city deserves (or wants). For 23 years, we’ve also had the country’s only Versace-branded hotel and, to be fair, the end of that era warranted a headline or two.
But there’s more to the modern Gold Coast than Medusa tiles; this city is far less garish than my mate in Brisbane would have you believe.
Where global names used to head straight to the Versace when they rolled into town, these days they are setting their sights on the Coast’s southern postcodes.
Harry Styles is said to have lapped up The Langham during his recent tour. Tom Hanks and wife, Rita Wilson, were Broadbeach locals while he was filming Elvis in the city. As for bona fide locals, they are more likely to be seen dining in suburban hamlets such as Nobby Beach, Chirn Park or Palm Beach than Surfers Paradise.
“I always find it amusing that the rest of Australia thinks the Gold Coast is filled with people who dress wildly and party all night,” laughs King.
“There are reasons for that caricature but the truth is the city is overwhelmingly made up of suburbs filled with mums and dads taking their kids to school during the week and nippers on the weekend. It’s a very suburban lifestyle but a lot of people only see the sensational headlines.”
This week those headlines were all about a global fashion brand “quitting” and “walking away” from one of our most “iconic” hotels. But is the House of Versace’s decision really reason to fear the glory days are over?
Only if you’re an outsider who fails to appreciate that this unique beast we call the Gold Coast has once again shed its skin in favour of a look that is a bit sleeker, a little less colourful and a whole lot classier than previous incarnations.
