Pictured here is the gorgeous Golden Gazelle Suite which our Editor-in-Chief, Rupi Sood, was lucky enough to stay in at the beautiful Peacock Pavilions guesthouse featured in Issue 01 of the Journal. The room is breathtaking with its dark and glamorous decor.

Maryam Montague, owner of this incredible property on the outskirts of Marrakech, was inspired by a screen made by Armand Albert Rateau for French fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin’s apartment. So, she sought out the handiwork of talented stencilist Melanie Royals for the stunning black and gold wall. The rest of the room is decorated with curtains of saris from Bangladesh, cushions with the embroidery of Rabat, Moroccan chairs upholstered in mud cloth from Mali, lanterns from the souks of Marrakech, a quilt from India, and a vintage Moroccan rug on the floor.

The graceful gazelle, belonging to the antelope species, with its long neck and slender body is often associated in Arabic literature with female beauty. Comparing the gazelle with one’s beloved is a common theme in Arabic literature. Furthermore, linguists believe ghazal, the word for love poetry in Arabic, is related to the word for gazelle. It’s natural then that the Golden Gazelle Suite is a perfect place to stay for gypsetting romantics.

O likeness of Layla, never fear!
For I am your friend, today, O wild deer!
Then I say, after freeing her from her fetters:
You are free for the sake of Layla, for ever!

—Arab ruler Caliph Abd al-Malik (646–705), who freed a gazelle he had captured because of her resemblance to his beloved.

{Photograph via Wanderloot}