Emma Jane Pilkington Goergen; Ease is paramount for this interior designer, who relies on classic pieces for business, then lets go with vibrant bohemian looks at play.(Interview)

Byline: William Norwich

In the great fashion equation called life, you would think it was simple math. Work from home and travel constantly, and it adds up to wearing whatever you want, right? "Wrong," says interior designer Emma Jane Pilkington Goergen.

As anyone who has ever been late to a picnic because she could not figure out what to wear knows, "casual" is a fund of potential style faux pas, whereas dressing for more official callings-the bank, a ballroom-is usually a one-option premeditated event. "I am a perfectionist," Emma explains this afternoon at the East Side apartment she shares with her husband, the financier Todd Goergen. "Early on in my career, I decided that I have to have a uniform to rely on. I have to know that I have at least three pairs of pants that go with three certain tops and shoes, and then I can relax."

Emma has just returned from a quick stop at the Gap, where she bought three pairs of drawstring khakis to take on an impending trip to India with her husband. (Before New Delhi, however, the decorator of choice for such young Manhattan powerhouses as Cristina Greeven Cuomo, Sasha Lazard, and Ivanka Trump is off to work in Jamaica.)

"The whole uniform idea began when I was a child in Australia," Emma says, catching her black cocker spaniel, Stella, as she charges into the room. "It was torture, the rules were so strict-regulation underwear, black, navy, or hunter green, which is why I probably hate hunter green to this day-but it was also efficient. Too much permission can make dressing too difficult."

With Mr. Goergen's blessing, we visit Wardrobe Central, the couple's beautiful old-school bedroom, all soft Palladian grays and whites and window seats in a historic Rosario Candela building. Enviable are the wall-to-wall nine-foot-tall closets that were added during a renovation.

"A typical day begins with Bikram yoga around the corner, then home to bathe and work in my office on the computer, sourcing things. Next, maybe stop by the D & D Building, then visit at least one of our work sites in New York, the Hamptons, and Greenwich," Pilkington says. Her decorating style is a kind of architectural classicism through a global filter: clean lines, great fabrics, serene comfort, and wit (like the great eighteenth-century English chandelier hanging over the bed).