Shortly after writing my last post, I watched a BBC4 documentary on the couturier, Valentino. The film was the “fly on the wall” type, following him over a period of a few weeks or months, and recording him at work on a new collection, interspersed with moments from his personal life. it struck me that the interior design world has much in common with the fashion world. While most of us buy our clothes “off the peg”, we decorate our homes in much the same way; buying things on impulse and decorating from a pallette of materials and furnishings readily available on the high street, or more probably from large Swedish blue and yellow sheds on the edge of town. However, there are those who can afford something more bespoke, and will employ an Interior Designer or Architect, to give their home a unique, made-to-measure look. The ornate swags and pelmets featured in my last story (below) clearly belong in this category, with their expensive fabrics and extravagant designs. This next house, in Kensington was refurbished by Studio Indigo, an architectural firm based in the mecca of Interior Couturiers, Chelsea Harbour, working in conjunction with California based Interior Designer, Lindy Smallwood. It contains many of the prerequisites for a bespoke house; the rich fabrics and furniture, the dazzling wall coverings, in particular the de Gournay chinese silk in the dining room; elaborate lighting and home entertainment systems; basement media / family room; kitchen by Mark Wilkinson; bedrooms with attached sitting rooms and walk-in wardrobes or dressing rooms the size of most one bedroom flats.
With its gilt edged joinery, the dressing room is the piece de resistance. Immaculately detailed and finished, it is the perfect environment for one’s couture wardrobe.
