At Home With Christian Siriano

Christian Siriano’s Westport Getaway Reflects Both His Exuberant Fashion Sensibility And His Love Of Modernist-Inspired Interiors

Christian Siriano is known for the old-school glamour of his women’s wear collections. A few years ago, however, without fuss or fanfare he quietly established an interior design practice. It so happens that Siriano is also a dab hand at interior decoration and furniture design.

For proof of his talent, one need look no further than his own ultra-modern getaway in Westport, Connecticut. When Siriano first set eyes on the angular six thousand-square-foot wood and stucco structure (designed by RAAD Studio in collaboration with the architect Bolek Ryzinski) he realized it was ready-made — ready-made for him, that was. Floor-to-ceiling windows, a wine cellar, an open living room, a principal bedroom with its own capacious decking overlooking a verdant garden, and a pool set on 3.5 acres more than met his requirements. Looking out at the surrounding landscape, Siriano felt as though he’d left the metropolis behind.

Best of all, the house didn’t require any structural work, even though he recently elected to build an extension (a wing where “family and friends can be silly and messy without ruining my things”). He didn’t even need to go shopping, having acquired heaps of vintage finds and lovely objects from sources far and wide. And then there were his own quirky pieces from his debut furniture line: whimsical rectilinear tables and chairs that have an almost creaturely presence. Positioned throughout the house, they look at home in the space, appearing to stand guard over it like sentinels.

“I treat my furniture like sculpture,” says Siriano, who recently brought out a second, more comprehensive collection comprised of Art Deco-inspired sofas, coffee tables, and chaises upholstered in silk and silk blends. “At the same time,” he continues, “I’m trying to introduce fashion elements into the home.” To this end, Siriano is attentive to the ways in which “the curve and shape and line of a sofa can suggest the silhouette of a dress,” or, conversely, the clean lines of a piece of furniture can influence the cut of a suit. “Interior design is my palate-cleanser,” he says. “I work with so much color and texture and fantasy so this is a way for me to use a different part of my brain. I’m minimalist in my interior design — clean and modern — and it’s a bit different from my clothes.” In other words, he says, fashion inspires interiors and vice versa. “Doing both at the same time has been really fun.”

That dual sensibility is on display in his Westport house, especially in the living room, which Siriano considers the property’s center of gravity. Indeed, only a fashion tastemaker would think of pairing slouchy Mario Bellini chairs, a pouff-y Pierre Paulin-ish sofa, and a mid-century wood-framed couch upholstered in shearling — all upholstered with sartorial flare. The walls are gallery-white, a foil for his art collection of works by Eser Gündüz, Gee Gee Collins, Josh Young, and others, in addition to his own paintings. “There’s no TV,” he says, “and everyone hangs out there and we talk and look at books. It became a beautiful room, which doesn’t happen all the time.”

There’s beauty in the kitchen, too, with its natural wood cabinets and jet-black Pietra Cardosa countertops. The impact of the natural stone is striking enough to make you reconsider the trend for quartz-clad work surfaces. Many of his clients share his affinity for such elemental materials, a number of whom have houses in the Hamptons.

On that front, he’s currently completing the interiors of a new-build in Water Mill for a client who shares his love of vintage furniture. “We started it during the pandemic and at that time we went clean and neutral. But now we’re changing it a bit, introducing pinks and blues to make it cozier and livelier. It’s not your typical white Hamptons house!”

Siriano says that although he’s by no means “a coastal designer”, he really likes the relaxed feel of beach style. In fact, the common denominator in all his undertakings is a sense of ease. He jokes: “I like to say, ‘You have a piece of Siriano in your closet. Now you can have a piece of Siriano in your living room. It’s a full take-over.’”

Photography by Tim Lenz