At home in the Hamptons

At home in the Hamptons
Elie Tahari's starring store pinpoints the center of a style universe

By Gareth Fenley and John Simpson, Contributors
March 01, 2008

Chris Eckert, New York

The quaint little seaside resort at the tip of New York's Long Island that apparel designer Elie Tahari discovered 25 years ago has gone through as much change as Tahari himself. From a penniless start in an Israeli orphanage, Tahari now captains Elie Tahari Ltd., a $500 million fashion business that he aspires to double in the coming years. And, as he observes, "East Hampton has become the cultural, architectural, entertainment and financial playground for the Northeast. It's the center of a very special universe."

Residing at a prominent downtown corner in the Hamptons, with an address of One Main Street, is the magical 5,691-sq.-ft. Tahari flagship. Within a modest brick building, an unexpected double-height space accomplishes structural wonders in an interior of polished metal and glass reflecting the clouds and trees above. The customer here is a personal guest of Elie and Rory Tahari, welcomed to shop amid art and furnishings collected just for the store, and much of it for sale.

The East Hampton store is the first expression of Elie Tahari as a lifestyle brand. Just this January, Tahari opened its sixth freestanding boutique at the Town Center at Boca Raton in Florida. Venetian plaster walls, accessory bays, glass shelving, blackened steel fixtures and wallcoverings there all originated at One Main Street.

"I wanted to accomplish a dramatic design statement, but with two very important criteria in mind," Tahari explains. "First, the clothes had to remain the focal point of the store, while second, I wanted customers to feel literally and figuratively at home."

To establish an East Hampton flagship that would transmit a new image around the world, Tahari purchased the small brick building originally constructed in 1917 as the town post office. Over the years, it had suffered through multiple office and commercial renovations. But it was familiar and dear to the community and had been protected with landmark status.

How could Tahari radiate his vision from such a provenance? Sensitive re-use is a familiar and stimulating challenge for Lissoni Associati of Milan, the Italian architecture firm that has collaborated with Tahari for five years. "We don't like to play the game of imitating the same style (of the original construction)," says architect Nicoletta Canesi, who led the East Hampton project with partner Piero Lissoni. "We like to get inside with a very strong, minimal, modern concept."

The old post office was originally dark and cramped inside. Lissoni Associati decided to open up the interior, punching large apertures in the roof and second floor, and using glass for vertical surfaces in the resulting double-height box. As Tahari puts it, "We had to tear down the entire building and re-build it."

The project removed a structural central wall and reinforced the perimeter with new steel. Workers dug a basement and lowered the second floor to make the height of both floors the same.The skylight became extraordinary by technical necessity. "In the beginning we wanted a huge piece of glass without beams, but because of these hurricanes you have here, we weren't able to do that," Canesi explains. "We worked with the engineers to find out a nice way to hide the beams, and that's why these beams are mirrored, so the sky reflecting into them makes them almost disappear."Similarly, the new floating staircase, inviting customers upstairs, was slenderized with mirrored surfaces.

Key to the project was Glenn Leitch, architect of record with New York-based Highland Associates.He has provided American architectural services for several Tahari-Lissoni collaborations. Leitch's enthusiasm in his own hometown of East Hampton helped convince civic leaders and the design review board to approve the adaptive re-use. "It was one of the most exciting projects I've ever done," Leitch says. "I built something beautiful and protected the village at the same time."

All the opaque interior surface materials in the store use muted colors evocative of East Hampton's weather-beaten natural surroundings.Highland Associates helped obtain the 100-year-old smoked oak flooring. "It's got a little tonality of gray in it, so it has the tonality of a boardwalk," Leitch says. "There's a nice contrast between the rough wood and the nice crisp glass."

The lowering of the second floor created an unusual space between the second floor windows and the adjacent floor. "We used louvers to obfuscate the architectural peculiarity of the window placement," Tahari explains. As always in this project, a problem-solving measure becomes a design strength. "The louvers are a classic idiom of beach architecture," he points out.

Tahari selected New York interior designer Amy Lau to finalize the picture. "He immediately knew what was important to him from the [start]," Lau recalls. "In our first meeting, we sat down, and he pulled actual materials for reference. One was this perfect driftwood he found on morning walks. He brought it to the table, and he talked about the natural use of linens, sand and limestone, and having a palette that is nature-driven; what beach means—bleached and weathered natural materials. There's a metallic quality and essence at the beach with golds and silvers and pewters." That became the color palette for the wallpapers, leather and fabrics in the interior.

Tahari not only understands, but also appreciates the effects of aging upon fine furnishings. "He likes that worn look," Lau says."In the color palette, the only bright colors come from the clothing." The wallpapers have strong, grainy textures and metallic sheens of silver or gold. Leather, curtains and furnishings all have a sun-weathered or sand-colored quality. Heavy, solid, Belgian and Italian linens seem to breathe as they enhance the play of light.Lau ordered rugs custom-made in Tibet of hemp and silk.

A passionate collector of mid-20th-century furniture, Tahari worked closely with Lau to expand his collection and place museum-quality items on display where they can be touched, sat upon—and purchased—at retail. Organic materials and forms highlight the collection, which pairs a 20th-century Neil Morris cloud table in an intimate vignette with a contemporary, cutting-edge driftwood bench by Amanda Levete.A coffee table by Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala is detailed with leaves and other organic shapes. Joseph-Andre Motte's 1949 braided cane tripod fauteuils capture the natural tones and textures of nearby beaches. Other pieces are by Vladimir Kagan, Poul Kjaerholm, Arne Norell and Hans Wegner. Selected merchandise for the home, plus vintage jewelry assembled by Rory Tahari with the assistance of designer and collector Jill Heller, envelop customers in a world of Tahari taste.

"The inception and realization of our East Hampton store has been transformative for our company," Tahari says. "Not only has it dramatically out-performed our previous East Hampton boutique, it has transformed the way our customers view the Elie Tahari brand. It has also altered the way that I, as well as everyone else at Elie Tahari, view our brand, paving the path for the future of this growing company."