Elle Décor Magazine (August/September 2002) 

“Blue Chip” 

For a Hamptons client, Victoria Hagan rejects her hallmark neutrals in favor of a blue-and-white scheme deployed with uncommon savoir-faire. 

            It may surprise those who sigh enviously at the tranquil facades of affluent enclaves like the Hamptons, but behind the ubiquitous shingles there is an endless, burning quest for perfection. After all, when you shell out that much silver, it has to be right: the right house, the right area, with the right pool and the right gravel drive. Yet striving for such perfection, as any decorator who has endured unimaginative clients will attest to, can lead to nothing more than a checklist of brand-name musts. So when a more adventurous man, a New York businessman, wanted something special for the inside of his Bridgehampton house, he turned to designer Victoria Hagan, whose view on the idealized interior is firm- too many rights make a wrong.

            “I love the visual energy that comes from the imperfect, the unexpected,” Hagan says. “People sometimes think designers create fairy tales, but we give them something that’s much more sincere. We don’t live in fairytales.” Having risen to prominence as a “must” all her own, with a host of clients in the Forbes 400, the New York-based decorator knows a thing or two about perfectionism. Her subtle signatures- muted colors, cashmere upholstery, nickel-plate hardware- defined the look of the late ‘90s inconspicuous consumption. Hagan is uncomfortable being a style-setter, however, and nothing irks her more than the idea that she might be too closely identified with one trick when she’s got plenty more up her sleeve. “I get typecast in this green-gray-white mold, and it’s not accurate,” she says. “I thought it was a god time to go against the grain.”

            Against the grain Hagan went, taking a design cliché- classic seaside- for the project and exuberantly redrafting it. She had a clean canvas on which to work, thanks to architect Peter Cook, who designed the house several years earlier, and a client who was a more sophisticated soul designwise than a lot of his CEO peers. “I’m always working to make sure things are appropriate,” says Hagan, stressing the last word to suggest the challenge that can be. “This was more of an interior-design project. I got to play with color, I designed some of the furniture, I got to have a little fun.”

            So if you thought blue and white was the sole province of the local ladies association, think again. The brilliant bucketful of color that Hagan splashed the interior with hits the visitor like a water balloon on a hot day. Rich and royal yet fresh and new, the living room is more like a painting than Ye Olde Beach House.

            Which is exactly what Hagan had in mind. The blue tones continue throughout, diffusing from the center like ripples from a skipping stone. In the master bedroom, Hagan opted for a quieter design with paler blues, fewer patterns, and softer fabrics. Guest rooms are furnished in light blues tinged with grays, a panoply of antique batik fabrics (her latest love) reverberates with an ethnic accent. The batiks are a stroke of genius, lending informality to what could be a stiff combination (think navy cushions with white piping) more evocative of the 1950s than the ‘70s. A basso countertheme of chocolate brown on the hardwood floor and in the study’s curtains balances the blue and keeps it from veering toward kitschville. And in the lower-level screening room Hagan turned up the volume with bright orange pillows and a pair of Paul McCobb brass footstools upholstered in striped Fortuny silk.

            The nicest thing about the house is the way it shouts summer. Blue and white might be a little on the chilly side come winter, but Hagan decided that defining the house as a warm-weather place was key. Too often, she says, clients wants vacation homes outfitted from basement to attic as full-tilt second homes, curtailing the design options. Luckily for Hagan, her client was smart enough to realize that, given Bridgehampton’s fullest flower is in July and August, his house should follow suit.

            “One of the greatest luxuries is being able to have a summer home,” says the designer. “And this house is totally simple and relaxed. Still, it’s a little ludicrous to say that, because it was a complicated project.” But that’s why you have Victoria Hagan- she makes it all look so easy.

 Text by David Colman. Photography by Michael Mundy. Produced by Dara Caponigro.