Colorful Character

ALTUZARRA IN HIS HOME STUDIO. LAWSON-FENNING SOFA IN A SCALAMANDRÉ FABRIC; CUSTOM TRAVERTINE TABLES BY IL GRANITO; FRANCO ALBINI LAMP; ROOM & BOARD DESK.

THE FAMILY ROOM WALLS ARE UPHOLSTERED IN BELGIAN LINEN. COTTON-VELVET-COVERED SECTIONAL SOFA BY RH; LAWSON-FENNING COCKTAIL TABLE AND ARMCHAIRS; SOUFIANE ZARIB RUG; PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLES FRÉGER.

AFTER WORKING FOR Marc Jacobs and Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, Altuzarra started his namesake brand in 2008. Julianne Moore and Rihanna were some of his earliest clients, and the label quickly became known for its blend of European polish and classic Americana, with a pinch of French-girl cool. For this year’s Met Gala, he dressed Hillary Clinton, supermodel Precious Lee, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan.

A methodical designer who’s known for a specific, organized creative process, Altuzarra prides himself on being fashionably early. Typically, New York designers must work through the second half of summer to prepare for September Fashion Week, but Altuzarra’s studio works several seasons in advance, which allows him to enjoy European hours in the Hamptons for the full summer.

He’s got a real knack for timing. The couple moved into this house in July 2019, long before many New Yorkers flocked out of town during COVID-19’s lockdown. (Weissman says it became a satellite Altuzarra studio in the summer of 2020.) “The first time we stayed in the house was on the Fourth of July weekend. All of our furniture hadn’t arrived, and I remember ordering pizza and pasta and having a picnic in the living room,” Altuzarra says. “Seth and I were pinching ourselves all weekend and couldn’t believe this was really our house.”

Thanks to interior designer Josh Greene, the pizza boxes are now gone and the furniture is in, with the result that this is Altuzarra’s favorite room. “I had a vision for a pink-hued living room from the very beginning,” Altuzarra says, referring to the modernist Dmitriy & Co. sofa in a blush pink Schumacher fabric sitting like a jewel within the space. “I love all the different tones of pink, the roundness of the furniture, all of the different textures. And I love the fireplace. I lie in front of the fireplace every night with a book, whether it’s summer or winter.”

Altuzarra’s second-floor office becomes headquarters when he’s sketching future collections, often with other members of his all-female design team. Weissman’s office is a floor below. “I like to sit at the kitchen table,” he explains. “I like to be near food at all times.” (They admit that the formal dining room is the least used room in the house.)

Karen Altuzarra, Joseph’s mother, is a frequent houseguest. She is the chairperson of the Altuzarra company board and likes to stay close to her granddaughters. Her largest contribution to the property was a planting garden. It includes blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, peppers, and kale. The rest of the garden was designed by Summerhill Landscapes with consulting by Studio Lily Kwong. (Kwong is Altuzarra’s cousin and a sometimes muse for the brand.)

“You need to have a clear vision of what you want and be able to express that vision.”

LEFT ARABESCATO CORCHIA MARBLE DEFINES THE PRIMARY BATH. LACAVA TUB WITH KALLISTA FITTINGS; APPARATUS SCONCE; CHARLOTTE PERRIAND STOOL. BELOW THE PRIMARY BEDROOM IS SWATHED IN ULTRASUEDE. CHRISTOPHE DELCOURT BED; BDDW BENCH; ENY LEE PARKER LAMPS ATOP DISC NIGHTSTANDS.

THE FAMILY SPENDS a lot of time in a Belgian-linen-wrapped den that is flush with neutral colors, which they admit isn’t ideal for a two-year-old. “All of our friends ask, ‘Are you insane?’ ” Weissman says, pointing out the long cream-colored sectional sofa from RH and the plush white Moroccan rug.

Altuzarra points out two chairs covered in a bulbous shearling that he sourced from textile mills he often collaborates with for his fashion brand. Was there any creative crossover between his career in fashion and the house’s interiors? “For either design process, you need to have a clear vision of what you want and be able to express that vision,” he says. “Both practices are about expressing a mood or feeling through design, whether it’s designing a dress that makes you feel confident and powerful, or designing a room that makes you feel serene and calm.” He credits the decor in this house to a lot of the insights he’s gleaned from creating Altuzarra retail outposts.

Even as the family grows, the couple won’t be asking anyone to make mood boards on Pinterest again. To get Emma excited about moving into a bigger bedroom, they told her she could decorate it. “We said she could pick the wallpaper,” Weissman says with a smile, “but then Joseph gave her three preapproved choices to pick from.”

STACEY BENDET (WEARING ALICE + OLIVIA) AND DAUGHTER ATHENA BELLE IN THE LIVING ROOM OF THEIR NYC APARTMENT, WHERE A FRANCESCO CLEMENTE TRIPTYCH DOMINATES ONE WALL. CURVED SOFA BY LA STUDIO IN A LUIGI BEVILACQUA VELVET; YVES KLEIN COCKTAIL TABLE.

A JULIAN SCHNABEL PAINTING PRESIDES IN THE LIVING ROOM. THE BESPOKE U-SHAPED SOFA IS COVERED IN GREEN VELVET FROM DESIGNERS GUILD WITH SAMUEL & SONS TRIM. THE CUSTOM COCKTAIL TABLE CONCEALS A PROJECTOR.

ANTIQUE ROCOCO DINING CHAIRS UPHOLSTERED IN ALICE + OLIVIA FABRICS SURROUND A CUSTOM DINING TABLE CREATED BY LOLA MONTES SCHNABEL. ARTWORKS BY RON GORCHOV (LEFT) AND CLAES OLDENBURG. The

first thing you see upon entering Stacey Bendet’s home is a stupendous portrait of her three daughters, painted by family friend Julian Schnabel. But look down and you will notice baskets on the floor in front of this magnificent work of art. Each is labeled with the name of a family member—there are even receptacles for Blue the dog and Princess the cat—and meant to hold those things (Crocs, socks, etc.) that are the fabric of everyday life.

Such is the delightful paradox of Bendet’s apartment—stunning and palatial, for sure, but also a living, breathing family refuge. Bendet, a fashion designer and the founder of the clothing company Alice + Olivia, and her husband, film producer and investor Eric Eisner, along with daughters Eloise Breckenridge, 13, Scarlet Haven, 11, and Athena Belle, 6 (and of course the aforementioned Blue and Princess), moved into this grand 6,800-square- foot space in the legendary Dakota on Manhattan’s Upper West Side just a few months ago. But that was after a massive three-and-a-half-year renovation, a labor of love—though, as with any project of this scale, it had its unique challenges.

“If you’re a creative person, there are certain spaces that just feel right to you—you just kind of feel the energy,” Bendet says, describing her obsession with this storied location. It is a desire shared by many New Yorkers who have longed to inhabit the fabled edifice, home over the decades to everyone from Leonard Bernstein to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

THE KITCHEN FLOOR IS COMPOSED OF MOSAIC HOUSE TILES LAID OUT IN A COLORFUL PATCHWORK PATTERN. PENDANTS FROM CIRCA LIGHTING; LACANCHE RANGE; WHITEHAUS COLLECTION SINK WITH CALIFORNIA FAUCETS FITTINGS.

The Gothic glory of the Dakota might be a tad intimidating, but there is nothing frightening about Bendet’s living room. “I wanted a place that felt grown-up and maintained all the elegance of the building but also was fun for friends and family,” Bendet says. “I didn’t want a big apartment that was made for adults and where you couldn’t jump on the sofa. My kids do cartwheels and flips in here. I wanted it to feel lived in.” Indeed, a glance at the sage green velvet sofa reveals a bold Blue traipsing along its back.

ORIGINALLY THIS WAS TWO RESIDENCES, crying out to be combined: One had an ’80s disco vibe; the other had what Bendet swears was “practically a dirt floor.” As much as possible, she has tried to recapture the original ambience of the place. “The fireplaces all had to be restored, and I wanted to re-create the beautiful mahogany woodwork.”

Bendet worked with her friend, the interior designer Louise Kugelberg, to bring the space back to life. “I guess it’s my own version of an international style,” Kugelberg says, explaining the home’s eclecticism. “There are Venetian chandeliers, Spanish carpets from the ’30s that came from the Ritz Hotel in Madrid, contemporary paintings by Francesco Clemente and Jorge Galindo—and some by my husband, Julian Schnabel—and a 12-foot-long dining table made out of hand-painted tiles by Lola Schnabel.”

That bronze table is stunning, but your eye can’t help traveling to other works of art: On a corner wall is a series of 12 color lithographs by Claes Oldenburg; the living room plays host to a monumental fresco by Francesco Clemente. Bendet laughs that unsuspecting friends sometimes mistake Princess’s scratching post for another work of art: “ ‘Is it by the Haas Brothers, maybe?’ they ask me. Nope, I tell them, it’s for the cat.”

A favorite room is meant to evoke a circus tent, and its blue-and-white-striped motif has multiple meanings: Eisner and his family own the Portsmouth Football Club in England, and these are the soccer team’s colors; Bendet ’s first big hit as a fashion

“I wanted a place that felt grown-up and maintained all the elegance of the building but also was fun for friends and family.” —Stacey Bendet