FUN FRIDAY: ODES TO WHICH WE OWE - KELLY WEARSTLER
ODES TO WHICH WE OWE
Vogue Living Australia, March/April 2018
WHO?: Kelly Wearstler
Happy Fun Friday!! Who better to celebrate than the guest editor of the recent edition of Vogue Living Australia - the MEGA designer, global brand, tastemaker and one of the rock stars of the design world - Kelly Wearstler!! My oh, my has this ultra-trailblazer been busy since launching herself to the world in 1999 with the Avalon Hotel in L.A. Even in the last few years, she has blown up even more as if that is possible!
I remember when I moved to London on a permanent basis almost nine years ago, asking other designers if they knew of KW's work and the majority weren't familiar with her. About five years ago everyone was referencing and talking about KWID! In fact, so influential that I have seen vignettes of her rooms recreated in high-end show homes down to the 'T', except with much toned down greige palettes ;)
However, you know that saying - no, not 'imitation is the greatest form of flattery' - in the case of KW it's more like; 'Often imitated but never duplicated'.
We at Studio L would apply that to KWID because let's be frank... there is only one Kelly Wearstler.
In just under twenty years, she has become a global luxury lifestyle brand which has cemented her status in the design worlds psyche that reaches far beyond interiors. Today we're going to talk a little about the earlier years and how Mz. Kelly brought a new kind of fun to interiors which captured my (and many others) imagination overwhelmingly so.
In her initial hotel takeover with Kor Realty Group, she singlehandedly influenced the massive resurgence in the glamourous, retro-chic Hollywood Regency style in the US which is still dominating in many ways over ten years later. Her designs may not be to everyone's taste (although I think her success would prove the pooh-pooher's wrong) but to your taste or not - I think the design world at large certainly has a lot to appreciate in regard to KWID's influence.
For me, it was her fearlessness with colour, scale, pattern and texture. I have always loved interiors, but until KW, I'd never consciously registered the use of it in such a profoundly exuberant and borderline overtly rebellious way. Kelly's work was (and still is) fantastically surprising and bold. As a viewer and experiencer, you cannot help but be impacted by the statements and, because they're so uniquely instinctive, discerning in their context and staunchly committed to a particular vision, even in her so-called "maximalist" style, there is a timelessness to it.
“The best details don’t take themselves too seriously”
KW's style has evolved for sure, but you cannot mistake a KWID environment even from 19 years ago to today! And to prove it, have fun pursuing through some of KW's earlier works in the slideshow below, we sure did! Thank you KWID!! You are like the Lady Gaga of interiors; we can't wait to see what you're going to do next!
Thank you reading and leave comments, we'd love to hear from you!