blvd. | style
CLOSET CRUSH:
Michel Van Devender by Whitley Adkins | photographs by Amy Kolo
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ou wouldn’t know it today, but Concord native Michel Van Devender didn’t set out on a particularly creative path. After majoring in criminal justice at UNC Charlotte, her first post-college job was with the FBI field office, followed by one with the U.S. Attorney’s office. Later, she went to graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill to study social work and worked as a mediator for the courts focusing on child custody and visitation. For eight years, she worked as a mental health therapist, operating her own private practice. After her third son was born, Van Devender decided to step away from her practice, and her path into the creative world began. “I always loved fashion and design,” she says. “When my son was very young, I met a designer and started working for her for a while.” A design partnership followed, but ultimately, Van Devender decided she wanted more. “I wanted to discover the full range of my creativity, and design is just one part of that. I paint, I love fashion, I love cooking and gardening. Sometimes I feel like I have creativity ADHD. Everyone says pick a niche, but that is just so boring, and I would feel like I was not being the full version of myself.”
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SOUTHPARK
Over the last 20 years, Van Devender and her husband, Ladd, have renovated two houses on 5th Street in Elizabeth and built their current home in Oakhurst. Her Instagram page @black.house.blue.sky is dedicated to their modern black home, while also showcasing design, travel, style and food — a montage of whatever Van Devender loves and finds inspiring. Comments have been edited for length and clarity. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONAL STYLE?
It’s overused, but just eclectic. I love mixing everything — it’s the way I approach interiors, too: Something classic, something edgier, something old, something new. I love vintage, but I like modern as well. I find it much more interesting in fashion and interiors when it’s a mix. WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FOR YOUR WARDROBE?
Everywhere — from art, from travel. I had a mom and a grandmother who both sewed. If they couldn’t find what they wanted, then they would just sew it. They were super creative with their fashion. Where is there not inspiration
