If you don't live in New York, you might not be familiar with interior designer
Richard Mishaan but you better learn his name because you are going to be hearing a lot about him soon. Richard Mishaan's career path has been an interesting one that had him designing woman's fashions at one point and later designing furniture for his store, Homer, which was how I was familiar with him. Tonight, he was debuting his new book
Modern Luxury, which with a very chic party at
Bergdorf Goodman.
Richard and his ridiculously beautiful wife Marcia are real socialites, not Housewives of New York wannabee socialites, so the party was filled with the who's who of New York. Among the chic guest were Marisa Berenson,
Nina Griscom, Mario Buatta,
Philip Gorrivan, and
Town & Country editor Pamela Fiori who wrote the forward to the book. I brought along my friend Eleanor Banco who works for
Teen Vogue since she is obsessed with interior design just as I am obsessed with fashion. I was excited when she brought me the latest issue! I also invited
blogger and
Rubie Green designer Michelle Adams who I was excited to catch up with. Also on hand was my friend Kevin Isbell, design director for
Bilhuber & Associates who introduced me to
Allison Caccoma, the interior designer behind the May 2009
House Beautiful cover! Allison used to work for Bunny Williams and Jeffrey Bilhuber and I can't wait to talk to her more about her work soon!
But let's get back to Richard Mishaan. Richard describes his design style as "fusion" and that definitely describes it. I like when a designer isn't afraid to mix things up and not have a signature style but one that fits each interior and client. There is a chic and elegant feeling to all the spaces in his book but they are also all unique which is why the book is so interesting. My favorite quote from Richard Mishaan is "I am both a modernist and a classicist - I believe we can honor traditional style without living in the dusty past." Amen!
Photos by George Ross
For his Designer Visions Showhouse in the Soho Mews, interior designer Richard Mishaan chose Dinner at Eight as his inspiration. The movie revolves around the preparation for a dinner party for a group wealthy and soon to be unwealthy men and women during the Great Depression. You practically need an org chart to keep up with who's involved with whom which includes a very glamorous Jean Harlow whose bedroom in the film influenced the showhouse bedroom. There are a lot of glamorous touches of shine and gold throughout the space that harken back to the 1930's. You can see more of the showhouse in the December 2009 issue of Town & Country magazine and at Designer Visions online. Lloyd Boston will also host a behind the scenes special about the Designer Visions showhouses on the Fine Living Network on January 26, 2010. Enjoy!
