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with a new spirit of style and hospitality. Charming cafes and patisseries are popping up. Three new museums have opened in the Kasbah. Tangier has never looked so beautiful." The heady days of Paul Bowles, the Rolling Stones, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, and assorted exiles are long gone. More lasting influences began when legendary antique dealers and designers — Londoners Christopher Gibbs, Robert Kime, and Veere Grenney, the Colefax & Fowler gang, and a dizzy list of chic French designers (Bruno Frisoni, Hervé Van Der Straeten) — descended on Tangier, set up residences, and left their Moroccan- inflected mark. Sultanate palaces, colonial villas, and former embassies are turned into boltholes and hotels. Now there's a boast that every other visitor/resident is an interior designer. Tangier has a noble history to draw upon. After the indigenous Berbers, the region became a Phoenician trading post in the 1st millennium BC. It later became a Carthaginian settlement and was subsequently ruled by the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Portuguese, the British, and, memorably, the French. In the Souk and in the Medina, polyglot voices float through the jasmine-scented air. "Tangier, surrounded by my friends and the lively world of Moroccan creatives, is where I feel my happiest," said Deniot. "Tangier means freedom. I've been coming here for almost two decades and I still have much of the region to discover. In the meantime, I'm exploring every inch of Tangier. Every day is an inspiration." Photos this page: Bruno Frisoni and Herve Van Der Straeten's home, Dar Baba, in Tangier. From the book Inside Tangier, Vendome Press. Photographs Guido Taroni. Jean-Louis Deniot's Tangier: What to See, Where to Shop and Swoon Design and Fashion Topolina Isabelle Dallemang and her son Pierre-Henry kick up the color palette for the neon-hued interiors of their exciting fashion and design shop in the Medina. I recently acquired an exceptional Directoire- style armchair covered in a petit-point tapestry. I love their new limited-edition bronze tables and bamboo/ rattan furniture collections. Woven silk pillows I adore, plus cheetah-print jackets with emerald silk lining. If you love shocking pink, this is your nirvana. @topolinashop. Las Chicas Brilliant. Moroccan f i l m m a k e r F a r i d a Benlyazid restored a Portuguese mansion to create the first Tangier concept store. I spend hours here, taking vegetarian lunch on the balcony, checking vintage jewels, lucky charms, and embroidered slippers. A must-visit here is fashion designer Jaimal Odedra and his new Baba (men and women) fashion collections. I recently ordered a Baba indigo jacket and an ivory robe in silk with a long black tassel belt. Super- chic. Tip: Odedra recently opened a new Baba boutique near the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech. @laschicasdetanger. New Tangier I admire the elegance of Tangier-born fashion designer Kenza Bennani who custom-designs djellabas, kaftans, and long silk brocade dresses that Moroccan film stars wear on the red carpet. Her sustainable fashion label New Tangier is superbly handcrafted in luscious color-saturated linens, printed cottons, and silks. I especially admire that she showcases the savoir faire of local weavers and skilled artisans. Set in her family's handsome historic residence in Marshan. newtangier.com. Kasbah Collective This very happening gallery is proof that the next generation offers exciting new ways of seeing Tangier's beauty. The founder is the son of Boutique Majid's owner, the world-famous textiles specialist, so he knows traditional crafts. Floral-embroidered babouches! Long 72