Sarah Dray is an out-and-out Parisienne. The interior designer was born in the French capital and has lived in traditional Haussmannian apartments ever since she was a child. "The aesthetics of Parisian buildings fascinate me," she says. "I've never seen anything quite so beautiful." Dray initially trained with two preeminent purveyors of French decorative taste.
While in college, she interned in the offices of ELLE DECOR A-List Titan Jacques Garcia. She recalls seeing the iconic designer from afar and noting his bright red socks and green crocodile loafers. She later worked for Isabelle Stanislas, known for her revamping of three staterooms in the Élysée Palace. "It's through her that I really discovered what I like," Dray says. "I adopt a similar contemporary approach within classical settings."
Since founding her firm in 2010, Dray has worked largely under the radar, despite attracting several noteworthy clients. She renovated a townhouse for France's answer to Stephen Colbert, talk show host Laurent Ruquier. Most of her work involves renovations of large-scale Parisian apartments, such as this 2,400-square-foot unit close to Parc Monceau and the Champs-Élysées.
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Esta historia es de la edición May 2024 de Elle Decor US.
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If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
