Mountain High, by Plum Sykes, was originally published in the November 2011 issue of Vogue.
Aerin Lauder’s new Aspen home is a lesson in luxurious simplicity.
It’s cozy, very casual, very family.
Skiing is a great holiday for everyone.
It’s nice to come in after a long day, make dinner, and sit by the fire.
We love watching classic old movies, playing Scrabble, and building Lego towns.
Sledding with sons Will, eleven, and Jack, twelve, on the toboggan run.
Sledding with sons Will, eleven, and Jack, twelve, on the toboggan run.
Aerin was very clear that she wanted a very simple house, says Romualdez.
She chose to avoid the billionaire neighborhoods like Red Mountain and go for something more local and low-key.
The light-filled living room features a Jean-Michel Frank sofa, Hans Wegner hoop chairs, luxurious fur throws, and exhilarating views over Aspen Mountain.
The house might be nonfussy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not blissfully comfy.
Bean stand ready all over the house to warm up numb feet just in from skiing.
The exquisitely arranged library.
The exquisitely arranged library.
In terms of pots and pans, I just use the basicsI’m not a snob like that.
The rustic white china she favors is either bought at Calvin Klein or picked up on visits to Austria.
Napkins for the table are country-stylesage greens, cream, rough linens.
Rift-cut white-oak walls meet cedar marble in a bathroom.
And I love to use beautiful big wooden bowls that I buy at Privet House in Warren, Connecticut.
(Until then, Aerin fans will have to make do with a Facebook and Tumblr presence.)
Rift-cut white-oak walls meet cedar marble in a bathroom.
Will prepares to break, with brother Jack in the game room.
I have a lot of passion, she admits.
I have a lot of pride.
I think I do get that from my family.
The master bedroom has a low oak bed with an Andreas Gursky photograph hanging above it.
But you’re free to be drivenandbe nice.
It’s my personality to be more quiet and reserved.
I’m not going out every night to multiple things.
A copse of leafless birches at the back of the house.
But I’ve always wanted to do this and really started working on it about two years ago.
Will prepares to break, with brother Jack in the game room.
She obviously wants to be independent.
A George Nakashima table and oversize wooden bowls in the living room.
As someone who has had experience of family-controlled companies, I can say it ain’t easy.
The new Aerin offices are in the historic Art Deco Fuller Building on the corner of Madison and Fifty-seventh.
The master bedroom has a low oak bed with an Andreas Gursky photograph hanging above it.
The semi-covered deck, furnished with David Sutherland teak lounge chairs and coffee table with provisions for hot chocolate, overlooks Aspen Mountain.
Flooded with sunshine, the light, airy offices have floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Madison Avenue.
A copse of leafless birches at the back of the house.
In essence, it’s timeless.
Aerin cozies up in a Burberry sweater and Daryl K leather pants.
Several Ellsworth Kelly works hang elsewhere.
A George Nakashima table and oversize wooden bowls in the living room.
We head into a boardroom with a fabulous antique mirrored table surrounded by gilt chairs.
Boots, furs, skis, and snowboards in the mudroom.
They were Estee’s, says Aerin, referring to her grandmother, the founder of the family business.
I had them repainted.
I took the blue from a vintage ribbon and worked on it.
Jack and Will’s oak-lined bedroom.
It’s very feminine.
And our focus groups show that blue isn’t polarizing, she adds knowingly.
Estee worked from her gut, she never did focus groups, but the business has changed.
Lauder, in her own vintage Moncler sweater and pants, skis the Aspen slopes.
I love market research because you really have an idea of what your consumers are looking for.
Suddenly she jumps up, excited.
Can I show you my hairbrush box?
exclaims Du Pont, who has joined us.
I can, actually, and it would be delightful.
Aerin cozies up in a Burberry sweater and Daryl K leather pants.
Daniel Romualdez arrives to join us, immaculate in a navy suit and a crisp white shirt.
The conversation immediately turns to entertaining.
I remember going to Sao Schlumberger’s house in Paris with my mother.
I was about fourteen, recalls Aerin.
Sao was wearing this amazing long red skirt and top that looked so beautiful.
But she did silver bowls filled with potato chips!
So now I always do that.
I just thought the way she did that was so glamorous and approachable at the same time.
Boots, furs, skis, and snowboards in the mudroom.
Aerin, her lunch companions inform me, is extraordinarily well qualified to create products for entertaining at home.
She’s the only person I know who notices your napkins or your glasses, says Romualdez.
When I first got married, I registered at Bergdorf’s and Asprey, Aerin says.
But now I don’t entertain with the seriousness I imagined I would.
There’s something very nice about having good friends over for supper and not having serious food or glasses.
I don’t necessarily use a stemmed glass for winewhy not use a tumbler?
She may now entertain with ease, but she doesn’t compromise on style.
Jack and Will’s oak-lined bedroom.
A very glamorous Ivanka Trump comes up to say hello.
We order coffees, which take forever.
Let’s cancel coffee and go, says Aerin.
She’s too busy to waste a minute.
I’m actually so tired, she says as she gets up to leave.
It turns out they had a late night at Freemans restaurant downtown.
I love it there; I love the decor, says Aerin.
It’ll be divine, perfect.
Lauder, in her own vintage Moncler sweater and pants, skis the Aspen slopes.
