Aerin Lauder’s Mix & Match Style

By Christine Quinlan

Beauty entrepreneur Aerin Lauder shops for new tableware to match her phenomenal and diverse china collection.

Tastemaker Aerin Lauder’s style ranges from beachy to bold.

Photo © Michael Turek.

Aerin Lauder’s casual table.

Photo © Michael Turek.

“Just like my grandmother Estée, I’ve never been afraid of color,” says Aerin Lauder. Lauder has worked for more than 20 years at her grandmother’s famous beauty company, founded more than a half-century ago; this summer she’s launching her own beauty, housewares and fashion line under the Aerin label. Her legendary grandmother’s influence is evident in Aerin’s designs, as well as in the way she sets her table for dinner parties at home. For instance, she mixes graphic coral plates by Sydney Albertini with bright hydrangeas and pale-blue glasses at the East Hampton, New York, estate that once belonged to Estée. While her grandmother loved to set out little bowls of candy or kumquats to decorate the table, Aerin often takes a more playful approach, filling bowls with stones, seashells or even her sons’ toy action figures. “That whole idea of embellishment, and a certain level of style detail, is something my grandmother handed down to me,” she says. Estée also left Aerin a substantial china collection, which she still uses and has added to over the years. “That formal style of entertaining is really fun when you first get married,” she says. “But my tastes have changed, and now I like a more fun, casual mood.” On the next page, Aerin shows how she uses Estée’s heirloom china pieces as inspiration for her own modern style. aerin.com.