Astor. Rockefeller. Gore. Yes, Albert Hadley has brought his refined aesthetic to the homes of the famous. As a boy in Tennessee, he honed his sense of style watching classic Hollywood movies. His clients range from Hollywood royalty to an international roster of the financial and political elite. Yet he once told New York magazine, "It's what you can achieve for the simplest person. . . .Design is about discipline and reality, not about fantasy. . . . " In other words, real homes for real people.
Owlish in his trademark tortoiseshell glasses, Hadley is known as the dean of American decorating. He operated the firm Parish-Hadley, where he mentored many of today's top designers, from 1962 to 1994. Working with his partner, the legendary Sister Parish, the tension between his modern, pared-down look and her penchant for Aubusson and florals made for an inimitable collaboration. When he was inducted into to the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 1986, his work was described this way: "Albert Hadley is defined by his keen sense of architectural detail and proportion, his carefully edited decorative schemes, and his sustained sense of tradition combined with an inexhaustible curiosity for the new."
A new book-Albert Hadley, The Story of America's Preeminent Interior Designer (Rizzoli)-relates his extraordinary story as well as delightful anecdotes about his work, his clients, and his friends. -Rebecca Christian
Albert Hadley's website:
www.alberthadley.com
