Newly minted pop star Ivy Getty talks laying floors at Tory Burch’s spring show

Ivy Getty is handy.

The model, fashion collector, philanthropist, singer and heiress to the Getty oil fortune knows her way around a hardware store. Hammer in hand, she’s been doing up her New York apartment.

“I’ve kind of been on an interior design moment,” the flame-haired Ms. Fix-It told Alexa at the Tory Burch show, where she sat on celebrity row. “I’ve built a lot of stuff myself. I’ve been hanging up [things] and putting down floorboards myself and painting the walls. I put a lot of hard work into the place and it makes it more special,” she added. 

“I painted the ceiling with stars a couple of days ago in my closet,” added the jade-eyed scion, who released her first song, “One Hit Wonder,” co-written with songwriter Madison Love. “It’s therapeutic for me to paint.”

Getty was living in the apartment with her husband, photographer Tobias Engel, but she filed for divorce in January. The couple married in San Francisco in a lavish event chronicled in Vogue. The star-studded 2021 nuptials were officiated by then-Speaker-of-the-House Nancy Pelosi and attended by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Getty wore an ethereal John Galliano for Maison Margiela Haute Couture gown adorned with broken mirror fragments.

The globetrotter is finally getting around to decorating her home. “I was traveling so much that I haven’t really settled in completely,” she said. “It’s a long process. I feel like I had to live in it for a while to see the vision. And it’s exciting to do because my grandmother [Ann Getty] was an interior designer.”

Getty was raised by her grandparents in the antiques-filled Getty mansion overlooking the glittering San Francisco bay. Several years ago, the contents of the estate went under the hammer in a series of landmark Christie’s auctions. 

Getty’s aesthetic is maximalist, like that of her grandmother, with plenty of ‘60s touches. “I feel like I studied a lot of what she’s done, she’s such an inspo. It kind of looks like if you went to a flea market, but obviously like a little bit more luxurious sometimes. I have so much stuff, but I want it to look like it’s lived-in.” 

“It’s like a giant playhouse,” she continued. “I love it so much. I never really have people over because I don’t want anything to happen to any of these items. Everything is so fragile.”

At the show held in the former Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg, Getty perched near Michelle Williams, Jodie Turner-Smith, Elizabeth Olsen, Mindy Kaling, Song Yuqi, Ella Emhoff, Joey King and Suni Lee. 

Models swagged sporty pieces, like tank swimsuits, drawstring-waist karate pants and jersey dresses that brought to mind football jerseys. There was plenty of urban sportswear, like wide-shouldered pinstripe wrap jackets belted over pants. English model and television personality Alexa Chung modeled a loose-waisted textured ivory skirt with a fitted vest. 

It was hip enough for Home Depot.