Category Archives: Chelsea Interiors

Chelsea – A Design History

Chelsea is seen by many as the jewel in the crown of south-west London. With its wall-to-wall gastro pubs, world-class restaurants, boutique shops and even its own reality TV series, Chelsea has become a London playground for the wealthy and sometimes famous.  

But there’s more to the area than just the iconic King’s Road, galleries, celebrity spotting and expensive cars. And it’s easy to see why top, luxury interior designers particularly are drawn to this creative part of the capital.

It’s hard to believe that Chelsea was once just a tiny Saxon village, located very much on the outskirts of London. The area didn’t change much until the 16th and 17th centuries when it started to become a fashionable place to live for the wealthy, in part due to its diversity of architecture

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Chelsea – moving on

After the heyday of the 1960s, London’s Chelsea saw yet another cultural incarnation, the area in the 1970s becoming a hub for rebellious and unconventional young creatives. This was where Punks and New Romantics  gathered. The latter could be seen hanging out around Sloane Square tube with their Trevor Sorbie “wedge” haircuts, while the former loitered on street benches along King’s Road, sporting Mohicans.

Music and fashion jostled for position in Chelsea, the vanguards for both being Vivienne Westwood and her business partner Malcom McLaren, with their first store, Let It Rock. They used design motifs such as Union Jack prints, oversized safety pins and leather covered in zips and studs. More than 40 years later these iconic ideas are still popular in fashion as well as interiors today. 

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