Gabriella Khalil is getting her makeup done at the kitchen counter when I step into her airy home, just one flight of stairs above the churn of Soho below. With jet-black hair and piercing green eyes, the Philly-born creative director is hard to miss. As one of those "IYKYK" names in a certain fashionable subset of New York City's downtown scene, Khalil has gained a reputation for a trait that's often discussed and increasingly rare: taste. For nearly a decade, she’s been the creative and design force behind the Cayman Islands fashion world pilgrimage, Palm Heights, as well as the downtown social space, WSA, and its Bushwick counterpart, SAA. Happier Grocer, with its signature cheery green logo, often touted as NYC's answer to Erewhon, was also launched under her creative vision. Step into any of these spaces and you can spot what insiders call the “Gabby effect”: interiors that are eclectic, elevated, and transportive, all filled with whimsical, fanciful objects of her tasteful curation (see: the famed "foot bed" by Frank Oelke that greets everyone who enters WSA).
Unsurprisingly, her taste in home decor is also impeccable. Space is hard to come by in New York City, and Khalil’s home is the rarest trifecta of all: spacious, serene and beautifully designed. The furniture is unexpected and eclectic, but not garish or over-the-top. I pause to take it all in—her deer-print couch in the living room, the glass speaker at the corner of her dining room, a bold red sculptural piece that looks like it belongs in MoMA. Every corner of her home is filled with unique furniture Khalil has lovingly collected over years, sourced everywhere from Paris flea markets to Morocco and England. The result is a space that feels both artistic, yet homey. A visual feast, yes, but also, unmistakably, a home.
Noah Schaub
So, when Khalil tells me she’s “entering into a new chapter,” I pay attention.
“I’ve been doing Palm Heights for almost a decade,” she says. “Across the board, I want to expand. I want to do my thing.” That expansion plans to launch her own design agency and lean fully into projects that reflect her point of view—homeware, interiors, furniture, and collaborations that move beyond hospitality. Khalil has long been the creative and design driver behind every project she’s touched, including a recent collaboration with jewelry brand Erede and a sensory dinner for fragrance brand Vyrao, but she describes this moment as a true turning point.
Noah Schaub
As Khalil wraps up her makeup, we head over to her closet, a walk-in space that would be considered moderately-sized anywhere else in the country and practically garangatan in New York City standards. “ “I’m a maximal minimalist,” Khalil says. “I don't do a ton of pattern. I like things that are punchy and powerful, but I also like sleek lines.” Like the rest of her home, her closet is unfussy, but brimming with treasures. There’s a black and white faux fur coat from Australian label Entire Studio, which we unanimously agree that she must wear for the opening shot. There are her treasured Elsa Peretti cuffs, one in each size, which she says she wears every day. There are Wardrobe NYC bodysuits, vintage Chanel jackets and Alaïa barrel leg jeans, but there's also a surprise sneaker collection and a sentimental story behind an Olympia Le-Tan clutch.
Standing in her closet, surrounded by pieces she’s lived, worked, and celebrated in, it’s clear the parallels between how Khalil dresses and how she designs. Keep scrolling to see inside Gabriella Khalil's closet and get to know the multi-hyphenate creative.
Noah Schaub
Do you have a “uniform” you wear that feels the most you?
GK: “I wear a lot of bodysuits. Wardrobe NYC is great; Skims, Negative, and Éterne make great ones. Wolford is good, too. I didn't wear jeans for almost 10 years—I just stopped wearing them. Then, when I got to New York, I started wearing jeans again. I like big, baggy jeans and I have a lot of fun jeans. I invest in jeans. My barrel jeans from Alaïa—that was a big purchase, but it was so worth it for me because I wear them so much. I love the shape. I love Frame jeans, and jeans from this brand, OSSOU. They have really cool shapes and they play with pocket size. I pair jeans with a simple bodysuit and keep it really easy with a cool boot. I'll have a nice piece of jewelry, a big cuff or something, and that's it. I find it can feel elevated, but it's very, very simple. I do a lot with jackets, so whether it's leather jackets or trench coats—that's my way to be more punchy.”
What about your special occasions?
GK: “I love Diotima. [Rachel Scott is] one of my absolute favorites. I have a lot of her pieces. Christopher John Rogers is really fab.”
Noah Schaub
What’s your shopping philosophy?
GK: “I try to choose pieces that I feel like will have longevity and not be overly trendy. But then, every season, I like to have some really punchy pieces that are super fun to experiment with. Like this gold Chanel vintage jacket. It’s really a departure from my current style. I don't really have anything like it. Style-wise, I'm not super simple, but I don't go overly layered either. I have a bit of both worlds. I try really hard not to be an impulse buyer—but sometimes, you just can’t resist.”
Tell us more about the jacket.
GK: “I bought it from a woman who has a store called Absolutely Fabrics. I met her at Palm Heights when she came down there for a collaboration we did with Christopher John Rogers. She opened up her store a couple years ago—it’s multi-brand, but she has a whole vintage section, and she's done a couple of showrooms in New York. I just think she has great taste, and it’s hard to find stores now that are super highly curated. Even with contemporary, I'm constantly discovering new, amazing brands through her, so I feel like she's really got a great eye.”
What does your closet represent to you?
GK: “I love my closet. I think it's not the hugest closet ever, but I think it's a really great space. I have my chair in here; I spend a lot of time in here. I’m constantly trying to make sure that I have my best pieces around and available. It’s a place of creativity, but it’s also a place that's for fun. Sometimes I hang out with my daughter in here and we talk about clothes and different things. She'll come in and she'll be like, ‘What's this? What's that? Oh, but what are these?’ And we'll talk.”
Noah Schaub
What’s something in your closet you’ll never get rid of?
GK: “My Olympia Le Tan book clutch—it has the pattern of where I got married [in Miami]. I’ll pass it down to my daughter. And my Tiffany & Co. Elsa Peretti cuff. Nine times out of 10, you can catch me wearing it. It's one of those things I wanted for years, and I got it maybe five years ago for a birthday or Christmas. I got the small one, which I was really happy with. I wore it so much and I was so obsessed with it that last year, I asked for the big one as a gift. So now I have both. I just think that they're incredible pieces.”
What’s something about your style that might surprise people?
GK: “I'm a big sneaker girl. I love sneakers. I've always worn them. Classics, like Air Force Ones. I actually have a hard time getting rid of sneakers. I hold onto them. Growing up, I had a thing about being taller than everyone, so I refused to wear heels."
Noah Schaub
How would you say you curate your closet in a similar or different way to how you approach design?
GK: “I think this whole idea of minimal maximalist applies for me across the board. I love that it applies very much so in spaces I design, too. I like clean lines, but then I'll have a crazy leopard sofa, like a boom! Or I'll have things with a curve; I'm obsessed with that kind of movement. I think my wardrobe is actually really, really similar. It’s mostly sleeker pieces and neutral colors, but then I'll have that red Alaïa look that’s a statement.”
Tell me the story behind the red Alaïa look.
GK: “Two years ago, I produced this Met Gala after-party at WSA. It was the first time we had done it. When we do these big events, I'm on the ground with the team setting it up. The day of the party, I left there at six or something and had nothing to wear to the actual event. So I ran over to the Alaïa store—I was like, I'm never going to find anything, but I'm just going to look. And [this set] wasn't even on the floor. They were like, ‘What about this?’ And I put it on and I was like, this is wild. But I love it. I'm obsessed. So I ended up getting it."
Click through the gallery below for more of Khalil's closet.
Credits:
Photographer: Noah Schaub
Makeup artist: Jayden Pham, The Wall Group
Editor-in-Chief: Faith Xue
Senior Fashion Editor: Ella O'Keeffe
Social Strategy Lead: Kala Herh
Social Creative Lead: Natasha Sheridan
