Step Inside Stacey Bendet’s Art

By Lynn Yaeger

Photography by Douglas Friedman

Styled by Michael Reynolds

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The first thing you see upon entering Stacey Bendet's home is a stupendous portrait of her three daughters, painted by family friend Julian Schnabel. But look down and you will notice baskets on the floor in front of this magnificent work of art. Each is labeled with the name of a family member—there are even receptacles for Blue the dog and Princess the cat—and meant to hold those things (Crocs, socks, etc.) that are the fabric of everyday life.

A Julian Schnabel painting presides in the living room. The bespoke U-shaped sofa is covered in green velvet from Designers Guild with Samuel & Sons trim. The custom cocktail table conceals a projector.

Such is the delightful paradox of Bendet's apartment—stunning and palatial, for sure, but also a living, breathing family refuge. Bendet, a fashion designer and the founder of the clothing company Alice + Olivia, and her husband, film producer and investor Eric Eisner, along with daughters Eloise Breckenridge, 13, Scarlet Haven, 11, and Athena Belle, 6 (and of course the aforementioned Blue and Princess), moved into this grand 6,800-square- foot space in the legendary Dakota on Manhattan's Upper West Side just a few months ago. But that was after a massive three-and-a-half-year renovation, a labor of love—though, as with any project of this scale, it had its unique challenges.

"If you’re a creative person, there are certain spaces that just feel right to you—you just kind of feel the energy," Bendet says, describing her obsession with this storied location. It is a desire shared by many New Yorkers who have longed to inhabit the fabled edifice, home over the decades to everyone from Leonard Bernstein to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Antique rococo dining chairs upholstered in Alice + Olivia fabrics surround a custom dining table created by Lola Montes Schnabel. Artworks by Ron Gorchov (left) and Claes Oldenburg.

The Gothic glory of the Dakota might be a tad intimidating, but there is nothing frightening about Bendet's living room. "I wanted a place that felt grown-up and maintained all the elegance of the building but also was fun for friends and family," Bendet says. "I didn't want a big apartment that was made for adults and where you couldn't jump on the sofa. My kids do cartwheels and flips in here. I wanted it to feel lived in." Indeed, a glance at the sage green velvet sofa reveals a bold Blue traipsing along its back.

"I wanted a place that felt grown-up and maintained all the elegance of the building but also was fun for friends and family." —Stacey Bendet

Originally this was two residences, crying out to be combined: One had an ’80s disco vibe; the other had what Bendet swears was "practically a dirt floor." As much as possible, she has tried to recapture the original ambience of the place. "The fireplaces all had to be restored, and I wanted to re-create the beautiful mahogany woodwork."

A scenic wallpaper by Iksel–Decorative Arts envelops Eloise Breckenridge's room. The bergères wear a Fortuny print, and the custom duvet is composed of Alice + Olivia fabrics. An artwork by Lola Montes Schnabel hangs above a 1960s Venetian desk.

Bendet worked with her friend, the interior designer Louise Kugelberg, to bring the space back to life. "I guess it's my own version of an international style," Kugelberg says, explaining the home's eclecticism. "There are Venetian chandeliers, Spanish carpets from the ’30s that came from the Ritz Hotel in Madrid, contemporary paintings by Francesco Clemente and Jorge Galindo—and some by my husband, Julian Schnabel—and a 12-foot-long dining table made out of hand-painted tiles by Lola Schnabel."

That bronze table is stunning, but your eye can't help traveling to other works of art: On a corner wall is a series of 12 color lithographs by Claes Oldenburg; the living room plays host to a monumental fresco by Francesco Clemente. Bendet laughs that unsuspecting friends sometimes mistake Princess's scratching post for another work of art: " ‘Is it by the Haas Brothers, maybe?’ they ask me. Nope, I tell them, it's for the cat."

"If you’re a creative person, there are certain spaces that just feel right to you—you just kind of feel the energy."

A favorite room is meant to evoke a circus tent, and its blue-and-white-striped motif has multiple meanings: Eisner and his family own the Portsmouth Football Club in England, and these are the soccer team's colors; Bendet's first big hit as a fashion designer was bell-bottom striped trousers. This is where her daughters hang out and watch TV, and it is accessible by one door that leads to that sumptuous living room, another to her husband's study. "This is his man cave," Bendet says, walking into that space. "We convinced him to have some embossed leather on the walls, and a leather couch, but his aesthetic is a little more austere. It was really important for the rooms not to just reflect what I like—I wanted it to feel like it was all shared by our family."

A Julian Schnabel portrait of Bendet's three daughters is displayed in the entrance hall. Fornasetti chairs; Venetian chandelier.

A bath features a brass-sheathed tub by the Cast Iron Bath Co. with fittings by Lefroy Brooks. Artwork by Roy Lichtenstein.

Alex Majoli

Her daughters’ bedrooms similarly display their own fierce individualism. Athena Belle hates pink, so her room is blue, with a loft bed and a ladder—to delight any six-year-old—and even a chair covered with teddy bears, a holdover from Nicky Hilton's baby shower, which took place at the apartment a few weeks ago. "Scarlet wanted a canopy bed," Bendet explains. "Eloise of course loved her block-printed wallpaper but then told me she wanted her room to be all white—it was a teen moment—and I was like, ‘Too bad! Your duvet matches your wallpaper!’ I trimmed the bed skirt to match the yellow flowers!"

And if those three quirky angels in that glorious Schnabel portrait have more of these adolescent hissy fits? "If someone wants to paint her room black, that will be a discussion…but I want them to love their rooms. My heart is in making this special for each family member."