A masterfully curated New York City apartment provides the perfect backdrop for Giavanna Battaglia-Engelbert's charmed life

摘要

Never trust a man who has no books," declares Giovanna Battaglia-Engelbert, floating atop a library ladder in a cotton-candy cloud of a Giambattista Valli gown. When the Italian stylist started dating Swedish real-estate mogul Oscar Engelbert, now her husband, they bonded over art and design tomes-Giovanna collects books as voraciously as she does fashion. "The library was half full when we met," she says. To borrow a phrase from Jerry Maguire, she completed him-or at least his shelves. Couple and books now happily commingle in the Annabelle Selldorf-designed Manhattan apartment with en suite sky garage and views over the Hudson River. Furnished with modern classics, from Pierre Jeanneret's teak dining table and chairs to a Stilnovo tricolor floor lamp, it is perhaps more reflective of Oscar's style than his wife's. (The place was already decorated when she moved in.) "He likes midcentury a lot, whereas I am also very comfortable with Baroque and all that Italian mess," Giovanna says. "We meet at Gio Ponti," she adds with a laugh.