Before I reach the door to Wes Gordon and Paul Arnhold’s West Chelsea apartment, the couple’s dog, Bird, bounds down the hall to greet me. It is just a few days since Gordon, the lauded young creative director at Carolina Herrera, presented his latest runway collection. And hours later,
he and Arnhold, a real estate developer and celebrated glassblower, will zip off to Puerto Rico for a well-deserved getaway—Bird in tow. COVID-19 is still but a faint concern. Inside their entry hall, a symphony of serene and joyous colors draws the eye in. Straight ahead, the High Line’s allée of trees reveals itself through floor-to-ceiling casement windows—a lush green canopy under which the couple sip coffee on their terrace in the mornings. An elegant blush hue coats the walls and ceiling, casting a flattering glow all around. And who could miss the vermilion-lacquered front door—the same vibrant shade that spells out the Herrera name on the labels stitched inside every garment Gordon dreams up. Upon taking the reins at the heritage brand two years ago, the fashion designer immediately replaced the house’s brown-and-cream branding with lipstick red and petal pink, declaring the Carolina Herrera woman bold, confident, and exuberant.
In the dining area, a Baguès chandelier once owned by Yves Saint Laurent and 1950s Charlotte Perriand chairs.
Stephen Kent Johnson
The same could be said of him and Arnhold. The aesthetically minded duo are as known for their creative prowess as for their social calendars—donning Marie Antoinette wigs with Martha Stewart at the Frick Collection one night, fêting the American Ballet Theatre on another. They are gifted entertainers as well. At their weekend home in Roxbury, Connecticut, legendary summer soirées unfold against the pastoral backdrop of horse fields and cow pastures spiked with the occasional mechanical bull. To know Gordon and Arnhold is to know that they live in a wonderfully vivid and richly layered world—warm, fun, elegant, and without pretension.
Carolina Herrera x Cabana plates join Paul Arnhold glassware and Christofle flatware.
Stephen Kent Johnson
Benjamin Moore shades of pink and red warm the entrance hall, where a Laurie Simmons photograph faces a circa 1780 piedmontese table; white painting by Andrew Kuo.
Stephen Kent Johnson
Whereas the couple’s country place is a historic piece of Americana, their city residence freed them up “to approach it with a blank slate,” Arnhold explains. The mandate was color and boldness. “Nothing greige, nothing boring,” notes Gordon. They set about the furnishings with an eye toward “pieces we would want to live with forever,” adds Arnhold. The result is a sophisticated mix that spans eras with aplomb. “The ceilings are painted, there’s wallpaper anywhere that wallpaper can be, clashing prints, and irreverence when it comes to periods—we took risks and had fun,” says Gordon. In the entryway, an 18th-century robin’s-egg blue-and-gold console sits under a contemporary Andrew Kuo painting the couple purchased at Art Basel a few years ago. It is flanked by two Renaissance works depicting hunting scenes. Opposite that, there’s a photograph from Laurie Simmons’s Love Doll series, for which Gordon traded clothing back when he had his own label. “The best thing he ever did,” Arnhold quips.
Benjamin Moore shades of pink and red warm the entrance hall, where a 1970s Aldo Tura table centers the vestibule; Claude Lalanne chair, antique Italian bench, Willi Baumeister painting.
Stephen Kent Johnson
The jewel box of a den reveals a deep eggplant sofa alongside midcentury Brazilian chairs. But the pride and joy of the room is a wall of rare early Meissen porcelain the couple inherited from Arnhold’s late grandfather Henry, a patron of the arts. “Wes and I are lucky enough to have a small display here at home,” he says. The pieces are rich with sentimentality: Arnhold’s great-grandparents started the collection in Dresden, and his great-grandmother saved it from Nazi destruction when she escaped to America; Henry Arnhold preserved and expanded on it, donating the lion’s share to the Frick. Yet despite its miraculous existence, the young Arnhold remembers it being lived with and enjoyed “floor to ceiling, wall to wall,” a tradition he and Gordon are now carrying on. “I think the biggest sacrilege to Henry would be if these pieces ended up in his grandchildren’s apartments behind a glass vitrine,” notes Gordon. “So we put them in a room we spend a lot of time in.”
In the main bedroom, a Maharam wool upholsters the headboard; Daniel W. Freeman art, Farrow & Ball ceiling paint, nightstand from Blackman Cruz.
Stephen Kent Johnson
The open living, dining, and kitchen areas lend themselves well to entertaining, such as when the couple hosted a group of 25 the night before the Carolina Herrera show. A geometric-patterned Swedish rug from the ’70s lays the groundwork, with its soft shades of blue, green, and pink echoed throughout the home, including a mantel exquisitely framed with hand-painted Florentine tiles. Guests can take their pick of seating, from a Gustavian sofa to a Frank Gehry cardboard lounger, or the Charlotte Perriand dining chairs that get pulled over to the living room during parties. “It’s never a seated dinner,” says Gordon. The kitchen island becomes a buffet, and plates—such as the Carolina Herrera x Cabana ones he designed—end up on people’s laps. “It’s a credit to Stephen that this room feels just as lovely if it’s the two of us as when we’re having
a big group over.”
Snapshots from the couple’s travels surmount the tub; directoire table, circa-1810 Russian chair.
Stephen Kent Johnson
The couple’s far-flung travels also inform the mood. In the cabana-striped kitchen, a windowsill with a view of a Romanesque Revival church is lined with pottery assembled on various sojourns: jugs from Comporta, Portugal; a vase picked up in Morocco; a Picasso pitcher. They admit that the ever-evolving nature of their collecting style keeps Sills on his toes. “We’re on a constant text thread,” says Arnhold. Adds Gordon with a laugh: “He has to try to put a leash on us.”
“What’s wonderful about the two of them,” Sills asserts, “is that they have different tastes and perspectives. Wes is romantic and loves old-school decorating while also being
hip. And Paul is a modernist who appreciates contemporary glass houses and blows that beautiful modern glass. I think the combination of the two of them works very well, and I’m kind of the mediator to pull it all together.”
Wes Gordon and Paul Arnhold at home in manhattan.
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- 转载自：Architectural Digest
- 语言：English
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发表于 2020-8-2 04:36:48
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