real estate envy

Getting to Know Isabel Toledo Through Her Fabulous Apartment

Isabel Toledo has been a fixture on the New York fashion scene since long before she designed Michelle Obama’s yellow Inauguration Day outfit. In February of 2006, New York took a look at the fabulous penthouse apartment she bought with her husband, Ruben, in 1995. The place looked like a flea-trap, so they gutted it and transformed it into a magnificent artist’s studio in nine months. Ruben paints upstairs, while Isabel’s workrooms are on the lower floors. The expansive upstairs skylight offers stellar views of the Empire State Building, and the apartment is sprinkled with Ruben’s paintings and Isabel’s creative flourishes, like the seat covers she made for the dining chairs (to hide the previous owners’ cat’s scratches).

In 2005, the Toledos were named in New York’s Beautiful New Yorkers list. In case you were wondering, Isabel exercises with hula hoops she hangs from her ceiling.

Picture Windows [NYM]
The Beautiful People [NYM]

Getting to Know Isabel Toledo Through Her Fabulous Apartment