Gold, a Trump Staple, Gets Mixed Reviews From Decorators at Gala

(Bloomberg) -- A roomful of interior designers Monday night in Manhattan were asked to take a break from raising money for disadvantaged kids to share their thoughts on gold, a decorative motif of President Donald Trump’s buildings.

“It’s like leopard skin,” said designer Larry Laslo. “A little goes a long way.”

"Gold is wonderful -- it’s a question of how you use it," said Bunny Williams, who has written six books. Her hallmarks are restraint and appropriateness, according to her website. "I don’t want an entire gold room. I don’t want every piece of furniture to be gold."

Architect Robert A.M. Stern said real gold is good, but a simulacrum isn’t. He went for limestone and marble in his design for 15 Central Park West. "The only gold in that building might be in someone’s teeth," Stern said.

Gold "connotes richness" but also "warmth and soul," said Jamie Drake, known for his use of dramatic colors.

The occasion was the President’s Dinner of the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, honoring Morgan Stanley and announcing the designers who will get to revamp rooms in a Manhattan townhouse (on the market for almost $30 million) by participating in the 45th edition of the Kips Bay Decorator Show House.

As for the 45th president’s gilded taste: "Overuse becomes gaudy," said John Saladino, the designer who was honored before veal chops with risotto were served to about 600 guests at Cipriani 42nd Street.

"Gold is meant to be a small glimmer, the delicate accent," said designer Celerie Kemble, whose firm is associated with establishment Palm Beach style.

San Francisco-based Ken Fulk, who will participate in the Show House opening in May, said "gold should be the older sister who doesn’t need to prove her beauty."

The dinner and Show House benefit Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, which serves more than 10,000 kids in the Bronx. The organization started in Manhattan’s Kips Bay neighborhood more than a hundred years ago, and retained its name when it moved in 1969 to an area with greater needs. The nonprofit says half of its beneficiaries are from single-parent homes, and 51 percent live in poverty.

During dinner, it was the kids who gleamed, singing "Rise Up" by Andra Day. (The song was a favorite at Hillary Clinton’s campaign events.)

Sophie Donelson, editor of House Beautiful magazine, said flecks are the way to do gold right now. "I’m into celestial wallpapers. There are some beautiful finishes with a retro-bowling alley kind of thing, that idea of stardust."

Trump’s gold is bolder. "But I like a little bling," she added, holding a purse emblazoned with the word "resist."

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Eichenbaum at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell, Paul Armstrong