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"  Photo: Chloe Crespi The interior designer turned blogger, who counts Peter Som and Pamela Love as members of her inner circle, will play the role of unconventional hostess on ELLE.com this month. Athena Calderone doesn&amp;#039;t consider herself a design purist: &amp;quot;If you love some Georgian sideboard and you also love this supermodernist piece, just know that it can all work together,&amp;quot; she says. In fact, pairings that challenge the beholder are the cornerstone of her lifestyle blog, Eye-swoon, where she posts fashion editorials, cooking tutorials with designers, and photos of interiors that catch her eye. &amp;quot;When things feel a little bit off to other people, that&amp;#039;s the truest testament of your style.&amp;quot; To that end, Calderone&amp;#039;s two New York living spaces\u2014a penthouse in DUMBO, Brooklyn, and a beach house in Amagansett, both of which she shares with her music-producer husband, Victor, and their 11-year-old son, Jivan\u2014are filled with modern pieces from Danish architect Ib Kofod-Larsen, plush Dunbar sofas, and mix-and-match chairs unearthed on eBay. A former actress, Calderone stumbled upon her affinity for creating what she calls &amp;quot;a well-curated home&amp;quot; while outfitting her city apartment with the help of friend and former Bergdorf Goodman director of store design John Rawlins. Together the two launched design firm Rawlins-Calderone in 2007 and have since dreamed up dining spaces in the Hotel on Rivington and personal-shopping suites at Bergdorf&amp;#039;s. But for Calderone, 38, home\u2014more specifically, the kitchen\u2014is where her heart is: &amp;quot;I approach a plate of food in a very similar way to how I approach design,&amp;quot; she says, &amp;quot;by adding varying textures and juxtaposing elements.&amp;quot; And punctuating the comic-bright galleries of seared fish and homemade mille-feuille on Eye-swoon are Calderone&amp;#039;s Alexander McQueen looks, Jamie Bochert\u2013esque bone structure, and jet-black fringe. &amp;quot;My life is a practice in opposites,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m as happy running around to fashion events as I am spending a Saturday night rearranging the decorative accessories on my bookshelves.&amp;quot; Does she contradict herself? Always, and that&amp;#039;s the point. This article appears in the August 2014 issue of ELLE magazine. Related:  Meet Our June Guest Blogger: Leila Yavari Related: Meet Our June Guest Blogger: Malala Fund CEO Shiza Shahid "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a24982/athena-calderone-august-guest-blogger/>