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Published on 7/25/08
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In the world of fashion, we constantly hear shop owners use the term lifestyle boutique to indicate the way a certain style aesthetic can go beyond how we dress and infuse the way we live. The spring and summer Blake Standard pieces such as pleated, supima cotton tops and dresses (see page 31) reflect local designer Pierre Colorado’s signature style of not-too-fitted but flattering, clean lines and monochromatic looks. But how does his style reflect his own way of living? Colorado obliged to show us how this sense of design plays out in his three-story Lakeview townhouse.
After working with a handful of apparel companies—Perry Ellis, Levi’s, Nautica and Abercrombie & Fitch—the FIT-trained New York–native landed in Chicago to launch his clothing line and move in with his partner, Todd Buffington (who already owned the house where they currently reside), in 2005. Fortunately, their shared taste for simplicity and individual fortes—Buffington’s knack for texture and big-picture spatial relations and Colorado’s interest in color and detail—were complementary.
“We both agreed to the fact that we wanted it to be comfortable, and even though we love modern, [to keep it] natural and organic,” says Colorado. “So we came up with the term ‘modern organic,’ ” a description that applies just as much to his women’s clothing line as it does his home decorating. To that end, the couple mixes sleek elements like a cream-colored chaise lounge and a 42-inch flat-screen TV with natural materials such as dark wood and stone tiles; Turkish rugs and found objects from the Victorian farmhouse where Buffington was raised offer a human touch. Shapes and imagery—from a photograph of the desert to an exotic seedpod used as a coffee-table adornment—constantly refer back to the organic theme.
Walking through his sun-soaked, loftlike space—skylights and a smattering of windows in every corner give the place an incredibly open, airy feel—Colorado describes his decorating “stories” like this season’s fashion collection—a consistent theme of a neutral base and strong pops of color. He points to one wall in his living room: Bright green and orange vintage glass vases sit on one end of a long, black-stained wooden shelf, and at the end of the line, two amber-colored vases embody the color same spectrum.
All that said, there’s nothing predictable or cookie-cutter about his embellishments. For instance, it takes an artist’s eye to recognize that the silhouette of an antique ice pick (another farmhouse relic) would fit perfectly above a stainless-steel electric stove. “[An accessory] doesn’t have to be brand-new or from a high-end store; you just have to accept the shape of it for what it is and put it in a different environment and see how it works.”
1 Rather than appearing kitschy or tacky, a chunk of coral purchased at a Florida souvenir shop takes on a classy, modern look beside a Jonathan Adler vase.
2 These aged chairs from the farmhouse double as functional sculptures and spark musings about their past lives in another home.
3 The “haven of the house,” the hammamlike bathroom, mixes modern luxuries— such as a rainfall showerhead—with natural materials like stone, marble and wood.
4 Ethnic trinkets from Colorado’s world travels, such as these Korean vases, fill the space with color.
5 A massive painting of a tree picks up slightly muted versions of the same hues as the vases on the shelf below.
Find Blake Standard at stores including CUSP, 1206 Northbrook Court, Northbrook (847-205-4543); Tangerine, 1719 N Damen Ave (773-772-0505); and Perchance, 3512 N Southport Ave (773-244-1300).
