Lacquer, Marble, Velvet, Chrome, Leather, Wood, (Almost) All in One Room? — SoHo's Bar Leone Shows How to Break the Rules This Autumn

There is a new icon in The City That Never Sleeps, and it comes dressed in the colors and textures of this season, rather fittingly. It's Bar Leone, a new two-storey cocktail lounge nestled at 527 Broome Street in SoHo, which sees restaurateur Andres Diaz and Manhattan-based architecture and interior design firm BOND cook up a winning partnership just in time for autumn.

Anyone traveling frequently to NYC knows every visit comes with an assured dose of interior design inspiration, whether sojourning at one of the best hotels New York has to offer or maximizing your chances for creative discoveries by scheduling your trip to coincide with appointments like NYC x Design. Still, if there is one thing that binge-watching all six seasons of Sex and the City in the span of two months taught me about the Big Apple, it is that nothing hits harder than NYC's cocktail bars.

The work of BOND's architects and partners, Noam Dvir and Daniel Rauchwerger, Bar Leone doesn't simply live up to the stereotype, but stands for a new kind of contemporary elegance. We said it during London Design Festival, and we say it again: today, being elegant is more synonymous with attitude than with restraint. And the imaginative pairing of materials, finishes, and moody lighting that brings Bar Leone to life shows just how much you can gain from breaking the rules and choosing to be irreverent.

Inside Bar Leone's Autumn-Coded, Two-Sided Universe

From Golden Hour Lounging

Two years since the start of their collaboration, Diaz and the designers at BOND have finally unveiled 2,400 square feet dedicated to nightlife and entertaining, so really, it's the interiors of Bar Leone that take the cake. Though we predict the SoHo address to be a year-round hit, its September debut makes it impossible not to feel like it's the place to take notes for a seasonal home bar rebrand.

To Italo Disco Dancing

In a recent story on autumnal interior styling ideas, contributing writer Lucy Lindfield wrote on the importance of making evenings the focus, bringing nature inside in unexpected ways, and turning rooms into destinations through deeper, more abundant materials and colors — and, perhaps most importantly, cultivating a sense of ritual through the objects inhabiting the spaces around us.

Bar Leone ticks all the boxes, and does so with confidence. Stick to the elements below to (try to) take its ambiance home.

The 3 Non-Negotiables for an Atmospheric Home Fix

The Mood — Unrushed Nonchalance

The first lesson to make evenings central in your routine as warm weather gives way to the colder months of the year is granting yourself the freedom to feel totally unrushed. Across curvilinear banquettes, upholstered chairs, and statement sofas, the seating at Bar Leone invites you to do just that — pick your drink from a range of creative martinis, caviar pairings, and refreshing Italian-inspired cocktails, choose a seat, and simply tune into conversation and the beats played on the ground level.

The Color — Amber Grace → Red Sunset

Mimicking autumn's color palette is one of the easiest ways to bring the outdoors in as the season approaches. Washed in a golden glow across warm sapele woods and suffused lighting, Bar Leone, though, doesn't limit itself to that. Instead, the choice of materials and finishes picked for its upstairs — from the cocooning corduroy velvet of its seats to the veined red travertine of the bar counter, and the countless matte details that, from the table legs to the sound system and fixtures, counterbalance the sleekness of the chrome taps — winks ever more subtly at the crunchy texture of blushing leaves crushed under our feet and the undulating bark of trees than in in-your-face seasonal decor. Ask me, and I'll confirm: the 1980s-infused look of Bar Leone makes for the ultimate modern living room fix 12 months a year.

The Twist: A Space Age-y Trick

If there's a straightforward way to make evenings a bigger part of your routine, it's to let yourself get lost in music. I might be biased, coming from Italy, but few things are as contagious as the right kind of Italo disco. Bar Leone dedicates its entire lower floor to it, calling for a mood shift. Here, it is red itself that takes center stage, across velvet wallpaper, undulating vinyl banquettes, and a red-lacquer-and-chrome bar station. The vibe is as sensual as it is playful, with multi-doughnut-shaped sconces playing witnesses to the space.

Throughout the venue, which gathers bespoke lighting design by Map Studio and custom lamps produced in collaboration with Gantri alongside stools and tables by Milan-based Spinzi Studio, but especially in its underground den, the aesthetic reminds us of our recently spotted Space Oddity trend: shapes that nod to the architecture of outer space, bold colors, and cinematic lights. Bar Leone succeeds, in a nutshell, in taking us elsewhere, and what better way to fight the autumn blues than convincing ourselves there is still room and time for sheer enjoyment?

Shop Bar Leone-Inspired Furnishings

And for more autumn decor inspiration, discover Arthouse Glasgow, Scotland's latest design boutique hotel.

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