‘Bordello chic’ seduces L.A.
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Style scout David A. Keeps has noticed that Los Angeles’ collective decor is getting a bit naughty. He’s calling the decorating trend, which lies somewhere between 19th century English gentlemen’s clubs and Parisian brothels, ‘bordello chic.’ Here’s how he describes it:
The look incorporates the glamorous vintage furniture popularized by Hollywood Regency decorating and modern interpretations of ornate rococo furniture, then takes it all to a darker, more dangerous place. It’s steeped in old-world classicism, but it plays into the sexually provocative culture at the heart of night life and fashion.
You’ll find this look popping up at night clubs like the recently opened Voyeur (pictured above) in West Hollywood, the Edison downtown, and the appropriately named (for our purposes) Bordello.
Intrigued? Read Keeps’ full story on bordello chic here and check out more photos of the trend after the jump.
-- Deborah Netburn
Photo credits clockwise from top: Mark Zeff-designed West Hollywood club Voyeur photographed by Samuel C. Frost; Aimee Less’ Corset Chair, courtesy of Aimee Less; high-backed gilded parlor chair by Christopher Guy, courtesy of Christopher Guy; Ted Nemeth chair at Voyeur photographed by Samuel C. Frost.
The ‘confessional’ dressing room at Coco de Mer, an upscale purveyor of lingerie. The room allows men to watch their partners try on clothes. Owner Sam Roddick says the trend is a reaction to social repression: ‘Decadence doesn’t become a symbol of opulence but a relief from reality.’
At the Edison, tufted leather benches and canopy chairs fill the raw industrial space.
London-based designer Christopher Guy recently opened a Beverly Hills store that carries exuberant updates of period pieces, including a button-tufted ottoman with a white-lacquered neo-rococo base.
Ted Nemeth’s restraint chair for Voyeur.
Photos courtesy of Coco de Mer, the Edison, Christopher Guy and Samuel C. Frost.
