Tuesday, October 18, 2011

GO HOME WITH GILT

As you may have noticed, shopping is my kryptonite, and flash sales hook me every time. One of my go-to's, Gilt Home, gets a new, more permanent home today. With over 400 brands, 2000 home furnishings and accessories, and four ways to shop, they are fusing content and commerce, making interiors shopping even more addicting. They are still keeping the daily flash sales (phew), and adding “shoppable” editorial, along with designer boutiques, where a curated assortment from top talent will tempt. The relaunch involves a sleek visual facelift and a new editorial director, the incredibly cool and nice Tom Delavan, formerly of the late, lamented domino. He can find inspiration and a practical application in a classic Horst interior shot from the 1960's, making the dreamy, elegant space it captures relevant and useful for today. Who wouldn't want to be inspired to live with a bit more panache?
The designer storefronts are open for business round the clock, which means I can shop Bunny Williams' virtual storefront at 10pm on a Thursday night for a house warming present and won't feel like the hourglass is running out of sand.
To kick off the designer boutiques, they have nabbed designers with diverse points of view -- Bunny Williams, Alexa Hampton, and Laura Kirar -- all of whom have a unique design story to tell. These women are all changing the face of interior design today, and I can't wait to see who else they have waiting in the wings.
I dropped into the boutiques and the curated assortment speaks to the unique design sensibility of each designer:

Photos courtesy Gilt Home
With Bunny, it's personal. Her warm and welcoming interiors and Bee Line Home collection of versatile pieces give her boutique a cozy feel, where you just want to sink into a cozy tufted chair and read a good book.

A leading voice in traditional design today, Alexa has tips on how to create balance with proportion and symmetry, and offers elegant choices for a classic yet current interior.

With an artistic sensibility and nature as her muse, Laura's boutique includes gleaming objects she has designed, as well as rough hewn wooden furnishings and cool mid century pieces for a warm modern look.

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