Hollywood glam, shimmer and shine the latest in home design

By Charlyne Varkonyi Schaub
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Roll out the red carpet. Turn on the spotlights. And say hello to “Hollywood Glam.” Think back to the days when Tinseltown deserved its name. Imagine Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow dressed in luxurious, clinging gowns and Humphrey Bogart wearing a white dinner jacket.

Now translate this nostalgia for old-fashioned glamour into home fashion. Mirrored furniture. Chaises. Bars serving martinis and Manhattans. Vanities decked out with triple mirrors and elegant perfume bottles. Fabrics and furniture finishes with a touch of shimmer. Even politically correct fake fur throws.

Michelle Lamb, publisher of The Trend Curve newsletter, calls Hollywood Glam “a trend with legs” that promises to keep gaining converts. She and other trend watchers say it also ties in with signs that our color palette is ready to shift back into neutral.

“Everyone wants to feel like a star or a starlet,” she said in a telephone interview. “People like the idea of being pampered. Glamour looks good, feels good and ties in with the luxurious fabrics of the moment … linen, velvet and silk.”

Lamb said Hollywood Glam also appeals to a need we all have for more time in a fast-paced world.

“It’s the look of money,” she said. “Jean Harlow had the time to sit before a dressing table. Hollywood Glam is about having the time to sit in a dressing room or mix a martini. Who has time for that today? I think it feeds the American dream. You can live like that and you can have the time to look like that.”

The glam trend has been developing for a couple of years. Thomasville threw out the first salvo in 2002 with its Humphrey Bogart Collection, including signature pieces such as an elegant deco-inspired dressing table and a bar with a nod to the woodwork of French Art Deco designer Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann. And momentum has been building ever since.

We have seen pieces of the look, such as mirrored furniture, but this fall all the elements have come together. Hollywood Glam is finally accessible and affordable.

Inspiration comes from designs of the 1920s through the 1940s. Glam has some vestiges of Hollywood Regency, a style that originated in Southern California in 1930 that combines English, French Regency, Greek Revival and old Hollywood. There’s also an echo of art deco.

“I think we all long for glamour,” says Linda Lee, editor of Inside/Out magazine, a new design magazine based in Miami that used a Hollywood Glamour theme for the first issue.

But until recently, finding the elements for the look took the skill of an archeologist. Style-conscious folks in Los Angeles and Manhattan were finding mirrored pieces in flea markets and junk shops and putting them in their bedrooms. In Florida, we had to dig for the look in the antiques shops or in the Miami Design District.

If you’re a purist, you can still find exquisite examples at these upscale shops, but you can find a mirrored chest for as little as $399 at the Bombay Company and a faux fur throw at Z Gallerie for $59.95. In fact, walk into the Z Gallerie shops and you’ll see the total accessorized look — from tufted fabric bed with fur throw, to chaise and mirrored furniture.

New York designer Larry Laslo includes glam influences in the furniture he designs and in his Manhattan apartment, which was featured in the February issue of Elle Decor.

His vision for the fall International Home Furnishings Market is pale, silvery and sophisticated. He painted his area in the Ferguson Copeland showroom with peach lacquered paint (pearl finish) contrasting with crisp white moldings and doorways. The rooms are decorated with mirrored and eggshell furniture, crystal chandeliers, lots of crystal and faux (never real) fur. The counterpoint is tweedy chenille upholstery.

“Shine is only good when coupled with contrast,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s like too much of a good thing. Too much bling. Too much blonde hair. I am grounding the peaches and roses with chocolate and mocha upholstery. The pillows and other chairs coupled with it are a peach satin. It’s very cosmetic without a gag factor.”

Where to buy:

• American Drew www.americandrew.com.
• Amy Howard www.amyhowardcollection.com.
• Bombay Co. Call 888-226-6229 or www.bombayco.com.
• Drexel Heritage www.drexelheritage.com.
• Ferguson Copeland www.fergusoncopeland.com.
• Hooker Furniture Call 276-656-3335 or www.hookerfurniture.com.
• Magnussen Home Call 519-662-3040 or www.magnussen.com.
• Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams www.mitchellgold.com.
• Ralph Lauren www.ralphlaurenhome.com.
• Robin Bruce Call 877-290-1502 or www.robinbruce.com.
• SusaneR Lifestyle Boutique 305-573-8483 or www.susaner.com.
• Thomasville Furniture www.Thomasville.com.
• Universal Furniture International www.universalfurniture.com.
• Z Gallerie www.zgallerie.com.

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