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MAY/JUN

THE BEAUTY ISSUE FEATURING

MARISSA HERMER HILARY DUFF ASHLEY TISDALE ZELDA WILLIAMS

FIFTH AVENUE CHIC

A PENTHOUSE WITH PERSONALITY

SEXY SUMMER

FASHION

LO K GET THE

FOR SUMMER

Above: Platinum IMP Topaz Diamond Ring, Oscar Heyman $66,000.00 www.oscarheyman.com Opposite: Silver 2 Piece: Ramy Brook, Earrings & Bracelet: Melinda Maria, Nude Sandals: Lulus Photograph by Jim Jordan with White Cross Productions

724 W. SHAW AVE. | FRESNO, CA | (559) 225-5363

he scope of Interior Designer, Celerie Kemble’s work on this New York Upper East Side apartment was the public areas, the living room, entry and dining room. Having worked with this client before, Celerie characterized this project as “delightful,” and one that “moved with freehand, trust and lots of unspoken understandings.” The entry is a series of strong, contrasting materials: the ornamentation and whimsy of a black carved wood console juxtaposed against the geometries of bright white paneling and an iron chandelier against an opalescent blush pink ceiling dome. The main challenge of the living room and dining area was the sheer size and grandeur of the architecture. The client was primarily concerned with the comfort and functionality of the rooms in terms of her family, with two grade school age children. Initially the living room felt very dark and imposing with darkly stained wood paneling. A fair portion of the wood was removed or covered in mirror, and to offset the inherent and imposing nature of all that, they used the sweet, feminine climb of a floral hand-painted scenic wallpaper.

The dining room is also treated as the family room. There are banquette sofas in each corner with dining tables that can be expanded and joined to the central one. A television is hidden behind curtains between the two banquettes and a fireplace on the adjacent wall makes it seem cozier while “dressed for dinner.” Also, the sweet star patterned wallpaper on the ceiling brings the formality down a notch, while keeping it defined by detail all around. “NYC has so many of the ghost town dining rooms,” Celerie adds, “so we really strive to make them comfortable day and night, for breakfast, homework and hangout.”

Experience the before and after

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cross the

Pond

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARISSA HERMER Features Editor Andrea Towers Photographer Jim Jordan Location Pacific Palisades, California

Stylist Adeana Rohatiner Stylist Assistant Julie Fessel Hair Aaron Light Makeup Aliana Moss using Laura Mercier cosmetics Manicurist Morgan McGuire Produced in conjunction with White Cross Productions and White Cross Studios.

alking to Marissa Hermer is like talking to a good friend. You instantly feel like your day is brightened when she chats with you, thanks to her genuine personality—personality that’s made her a fan favorite on the Bravo series Ladies of London. You can also ask her about her new cookbook, and then be honest and admit that it inspires you because you aren’t that skilled in the kitchen. “To be honest, I was like you,” Hermer tells me. “I still think I am like you. I’m not a trained cook. I’m not a trained chef. I grew up in Southern California, but I didn’t really cook and I never really cooked for myself. And then when I lived in New York I never really cooked for myself there because…” Hermer stops and asks me if I’m in New York. I am. I get it when she says you don’t need to know how to cook in New York City. “That being said, when I met and married Matt ... I don’t know if it’s that he’s British or if it’s the food he eats, but he likes home cooked meals,” Hermer says. “And I sort of realized I have to get with the program here really quickly. I wanted to play girlfriend, I wanted to play wife and I wanted to make my husband happy with food that he liked to cook.” This, Hermer elaborates, is how the idea for her cookbook, An American Girl in London, was born. “I certainly didn’t grow up making Shepherd’s Pie or any of those traditional dishes,” she reveals. “I didn’t know how to cook these things he grew up eating. So the idea behind the book is I learned all this British food. And my meat and potatoes have made Matt very happy, but I missed the food that I’d grown up with, as well.” That food, for a girl who grew up in Southern California, was a lot of “flavored, lighter fare,” such as avocados. “I started mixing some of that into the British comfort food cuisine that my husband liked … I ended up cooking quite a lot,” she explains. For Hermer, cooking has become something more than a pastime and a business venture. It’s become a passion, and something that, in a sense, has saved her. “I had a difficult pregnancy with my last child and I was on bed rest/house arrest a lot,” she tells me. “And so we had a lot of dinners at home, and I felt like I needed to satisfy my maternal urges. I wanted to be a better mom to my boys. I wasn’t able to run around with them at the park, or take them to birthday parties, or drop them off at school, or any of that. Where I couldn’t razzle dazzle them on the playground, I could make them a really nice cozy meal.” Is there anything she’s particularly proud of making that her children are willing to eat that they didn’t before? “A veggie curry,” she answers after much thought. “My kids are pretty good. They have a fairly advanced palate. That said, if they get pizza and there’s green on it, they freak out.” The American-born entrepreneur, married to London restaurateur, Matt Hermer, is currently making her home in sunny California with her three children: Max, 5, Jake, 2, and Sadie, 8 months. Although Hermer considers her family “bicontinental,” she also considers them home in the simplest way.

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“Ultimately, home is wherever my family is. We moved to LA right after Christmas, then I went to New York for a few days for work without the kids and without Matt, and when I was getting on the plane from JFK to LAX, I had that feeling of going home. Although California in general doesn’t feel like home, wherever my husband is and where my kids are makes me feel very comfortable and confident.” When Hermer isn’t whipping up the best meals in the kitchen or being a mother, she’s putting her life in the public eye as one of the six Ladies of London, a reality show that follows a group of women living in the UK as they balance business, family and their personal lives. “It’s crazy because I never thought I’d film a reality television show,” says Hermer, who attended Middlebury College in Vermont and got her start in public relations. “The fact that we’re even having this conversation now is crazy. But it’s fun.” After moving to New York to work for fashion and luxury brands, Hermer reconnected with the man who would later become her husband. They married shortly after moving back to London in 2008. “I used to be pretty anonymous at some level,” says Hermer of skyrocketing to fame with Ladies of London. “But it was more the clientele of our places that were famous. And since coming into this world, my skin has gotten a lot thicker. I still have the same friends, I still go to the same places; none of that has changed. But I was always a people pleaser, and I think that has changed. I think because suddenly the whole world had an opinion about what I was doing and who I was ... you can’t please everyone.” Currently, Hermer is waiting to hear if the show will be returning for a fourth season. Regardless of whether it does or not, she considers her friendships with the other women in Ladies of London to be long-lasting. “I’m incredibly close with all the girls, even the ones who are no longer a part of the series,” she says. “I just spoke to Annabelle [Neilson] a couple of days ago. I was on the phone with Julie Montagu this morning already. I speak to Sophie [Stanbury] weekly.” To an extent, it’s this bond that’s a part of what makes it hard to adjust to living in another country. “When we first moved here, I was like, get me back to London immediately!” Hermer laughs. “Which is crazy, because I grew up in Newport Beach. I’ve just been abroad for a very long time, so coming home I have experienced a bit of culture shock. Even though London does feel like home, I feel like I’m sort of living an adventure in California.” “Living an adventure” is a good way to describe Hermer’s life, an up and down trajectory of luck, success, and some truly scary experiences that put her life in perspective. While pregnant with her daughter, Hermer developed placenta accreta, an anomaly where the placenta grows too closely to the uterine wall. The rare condition required her to deliver at only 34 weeks via Caesarian, as well as undergo a hysterectomy. Couple that stress with moving from London back to California, and it’s no wonder Hermer had a hard time adjusting, even to somewhere she was already familiar with.

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