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METRO August/September 2005 7th Avenue Style Haute Couture Gets Off the Runway and Sets its Sights on Your Home Space. How is This Possible? ---Scott Creighton Have you ever felt while visiting a friend's newly decorated home or paging through House & Garden that the space just looks and feels remarkably comfortable? Not just "livable", but almost...wearable? If so, it won't come as a surprise to learn that there is a growing force sweeping through interior design coming from a related field: fashion. Metrosource sat down with tow of the new emerging voices in interior design to understand their inspiration and get their views on the trend. Though Adrian Gilbey (of Alan Tanksley Inc.) and Scott Sanders (Scott Sanders L.L.C.) have very different fashion backgrounds, these New York-based interior designers share a passion.  "When I am presenting a room concept to a client," says Gilbey, "I promise them that they will look great in the space too."  With his background that includes major design stints at Emmanuel, Ungaro, Sonia Rykiel, Donna Karan and, most recently, Jaeger in London, Adrian brings a "tailor's precision" to his career in interior work. Scott Sanders spent years at Ralph Lauren on the fashion/retail side before heading up its first in-store design services.  "Mr. Lauren always believed in what he termed the 'totality of a lifestyle' and his design concepts translated effortlessly from the runway to Home." The Parsons graduate, one of Gotham Magazine's Top 100 NYC Designers, has been flying solo for about five years, amassing an enviable portfolio of editorial credits, from The New York Times to House Beautiful to Travel and Leisure. "In the last five years or so, there has been a noticeable trend that is more than OK to mix up styles and periods," states Scott. "I think it started when Sharon Stone appeared at the Oscars wearing a designer outfit with a black Gap T-shirt! Women began to feel empowered to mix-and-match not only designers, but also clothing form radically different sources."  His clients now mix significant custom-designed pieces with lamps from Restoration Hardware. But, Adrian points out, now that there is not such strict adherence to a single style, it's actually harder to bring it all together harmoniously.  "When you tolls away the rule book, most clients really need a strong guiding hand so there is an articulated point of view.  That's when an interior designer can add tremendous value because he can identify a link, and create harmony within an eclectic mix." The second influence that both designers identified is the more confident use of strong color, even in those rooms that get frequent use.  "When I was working couture, the fall palette was pretty predictable: grays, camels, black. But in the recent fall collections of Burberry, Dolce & Gabanna and Marc Jacobs, color has become incredibly important.  Likewise, we are now working with palettes that are vibrant and far from your parent's 'eggshell white' world." Sanders has crafted a reputation for his confident use of colors. "My clients don't want rooms that 'blend away,' these are places where they want to be inspired and reflect their lives." And he points out that leading home furnishing stores have helped by editing color choices to a few and changing seasonally.  "Go into Crate & Barrel last spring and you would have seen a store for summer that vibrated with jewel-like colors in green and blue in everything from vases to fabric to table settings.  West Elm catalogs are a 48 page study of exploding color across categories." So, how do you tell the differences that justify some of the pieces that both Scott and Adrian bring to their respective projects? Just as in fashion, it is all about the detail and expertise.  "Tom Ford brought a level of quality that resonated with his clientele. It is the same chord we are striking when we take a 'melt-in-your-mouth' chocolate-colored fabric for a sofa and trim it in velvet.  The nuances of touch, visual interplay, even subtle scent come together for a stunning piece," says Gilbey. If fashion has its muses, where do interior designers now look for inspiration for 'dressing' rooms, not people?  Gilbey states: "As a fashion designer, I always sketched with a certain woman in mind, depending on what fashion house I was working for at the time. She was always somewhat 'ideal' in that I created her lifestyle in my mind.  Though certain women I knew or read about might inspire me, she was a muse: the 'perfect client'. "Now, he or she is very real.  I actually get to meet them and always ask to look into their closet.  That tells me virtually everything I need to know about them: what designers they relate to and their taste in color, fabric and print. How organized their closet is usually indicates the level of maintenance they are willing to give to a room.  If I see a well-organized, cared-for closet full of Prada, Chanel and Valentino, I know this client understands 'modern luxury' and attention to detail and can take care of a room that needs 'gentle grooming' or 'light fluffing' after I am gone." Scott concurs, "My inspiration always comes from something in their world that they already related to on an emotional level.  I have put together a whole house around a stunning, brightly colored enameled stove.  In another instance, a fire-engine-red satin dinner jacket became a prototype for a sofa I was working on for one client.  Design can be such an emotional area; you need to find those triggers that will strike a deep-down response in them that will resonate over time.  They are going to be living in these spaces and the rooms should enrich their lives."

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