Five Fits With: Interior Designer and Ralph Lauren Alum Alfredo Paredes
You may not know interior designer Alfredo Paredes name, but you certainly know his work. He’s responsible for some of the Ralph Lauren’s most iconic visual moments and interiors, including the famed Polo Bar.
“They hired me to work at the big men’s store that opened on Madison Avenue in 1985 or ’86,” he says. He started in the visual department, but soon he found himself working on all things creative, as well as store development. About 15 years into his time at the company, he was also put in charge of the home design studio. Eventually, he held the coveted title of chief creative officer. “I worked with amazing people, had a lot of responsibility, projects, and global creative responsibilities.” But all good things, as they say…
“Around the birth of my first child in 2014, I realized that I didn’t want to work in such a gigantic corporate environment, being gone all the time, and the stress of a public company,” he explains. So, after 34 years, he decided to exit, take a year off to spend time with his family and refocus, and form his eponymous design studio with a new team (including some former colleagues from his Ralph days). To say it’s been going well is something of an understatement.
His new book, Alfredo Paredes at Home, which just released this week, is an intimate look at his various residences over the course of his career and a good beginning to understanding Paredes. But it’s not the whole story—hence this edition of Five Fits With. Below, Paredes and I dive into his advice for young creatives, personal style lessons, tips for designing your home on a budget, and plenty more.
Fit One
Jacket by RRL, shirt by Brooks Brothers, jeans by Todd Snyder, and shoes by Sid Mashburn.
How did your time at Ralph Lauren shape your career?
Ralph is like a father figure to me. If he connects with you creatively, he gets very excited and it allows you to go for it and do amazing things; he’s very enabling and very supportive. My career was really educational at a very young age. I was given a lot to chew on and a lot to do. I was so young that I worked double time to prove that I wasn't going to screw it up. I was able to work with amazing people and hire amazing people. We were involved with everything. I did advertising shoots. I worked with amazing photographers. I did beautiful home collections, beautiful stores everywhere. I was involved with the clothes because the store was about the clothes. I was in charge of how the windows looked everywhere. It educated me on how to see things, and put things together.
What's been the biggest challenge of your career?
Leaving. I just felt like I had to go. If I stayed, I'd have stayed until I was 80 years old. Ralph taught me an immense amount of aesthetic sensibility. He opened a lot of people's eyes. He educates you. At the same time, I wanted to have my own voice.
Fit Two
Cardigan by RRL, shirt by Brooks Brothers, and trousers and shoes by Todd Snyder.
Do you have any advice for young creatives looking to make their mark in their given industry?
This is because I'm older, but I feel like today, young people have a little trouble sticking to anything. The idea is, in other words: You can be a dreamer, but you have to apply yourself. People are overwhelmed with choices, especially now with Instagram and social media—you just see so many things and in the process just get adrift in too many options.
What role does personal style play in creative direction and interior design, if any?
It's all movie sets. It's all playing a character walking into a house. That's what I learned at Ralph. It's all cinematic. You put on a blue-and-white sweater and a pair of white pants, you feel out of place on the streets of Manhattan, but you don't if you're in Paris. I don't know. It's all art directing. And the home should be the backdrop for people's lives. It's knowing how to think about how you're going to live and what you want to experience.
Fit Three
Jacket and trousers by Todd Snyder, sweater by Ralph Lauren, and shoes by Sid Mashburn.
How has your personal style change since the start of your career?
I'm more self-confident about what looks good on me. When I started at Ralph in the eighties, it was a very traditional English preppy thing, yet I was a little bit of a rebel Bohemian who wanted to wear black. At Ralph Lauren, I don't think there was a black sweater in 1986, though it eventually evolved into embracing all types of people and types of things. I've also been immersed in clothes for decades, so I can pick and choose what I like and then work it out if it looks good on me. When I lived in Washington, DC after attending The Art Institute in Atlanta, I embraced punk rock and had bluish hair. Young people experiment. They try new things. What looks good on a very young person does not always look good on an older person. Also, being at Ralph, I learned how to put combinations together. I wear a lot of Western clothes—Western shirts or bootcut jeans. The more you learn about it, the more you feel either really stupid in it or you look great. You have to know what your face or your head works with. I've often seen myself in something and go, "That head doesn't belong in those clothes."
Fit Four
Jacket by Relwen, shirt by Todd Snyder, vintage trousers, and shoes by Polo Ralph Lauren.
What was your most recent purchase?
I just bought a jacket yesterday at Todd Snyder. It's a navy blue felt coat. But it's fitted and smaller, which I like.
Do you have any tips for someone looking to update their living space on a budget?
Even when I didn't have a dime, I had a mattress on the floor, but I had nice sheets. Buy a decent lamp and put on a pile of books next to the bed just to style it. Have flowers. You don't have to have a lot; you just have to make the effort.
What were the challenges and joys in working on your new book?
I was at Ralph for so long that the biggest challenge was not spending the whole time talking about what I did instead of where I'm going. This is about my partner and my two children's multiple homes that we've had over the last 15 years—some I own still, some I don't. They'd all been published except my last house in Locust Valley. The book is 400 pictures. The challenge is exposing yourself like that. Getting that personal. My partner wrote the text because he's a great writer. He was the executive editor at Interview. It made sense for him to write the text in the book, but it's a little intimately personal having him talking about me and our life.
Fit Five
Jacket, cardigan, and trousers by RRL; T-shirt by Ralph Lauren; hat by Filson; and boots by Frye.
Is there much separation between your homes or your design studio’s work? How much of your own personal identity is tied up in your design studio?
The reality is, it’s the clients. If you want a butt-ugly green living room, I'm here to work through it with you. At the end of the day, you make the decision. It's your money, it's your time. It's a little different because in my houses, I can complete the whole vision. I just own it, which is okay. At Ralph, I was able to complete the vision more too, because that was part of the business, presenting a complete vision. But with the studio, it's a lot of negotiating with a client or a couple to get them to complete the story.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?
Board shorts, a really good white T-shirt, flip-flops, and a good tan.
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