apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Oh man, second to last image: those wooden chairs are soooo awesome.

Classic designs from any era will always endure. That's probably why the apartment changed so little over the years.

its the emperor's new clothes for me, all I see (for the most part) is dated clutter

If Fred Sanford and Son won the lottery.

"...all I see is dated clutter"

When it's tacky plastic junk from Target, IKEA Furniture and piles of old clothes - It's called clutter, and when you die your surviving family has it hauled out to the landfill in big green plastic garbage bags...

...but when it's French Crystal and Ormulu candlesticks, handpainted China Pillboxes, original bronzes, Greek statuary and urns from your travels to the Eastern Mediterranean, African stools, Flemish Tapestries, Emile Ruhlman Armchairs, and an original Matisse - It's called a Collection, and when you die Christie's holds an auction that raises Millions for your heirs.

What a beautifully curated lifetime collection. And how very, very French.

Every single piece is gorgeous but the place as a whole is much too cluttered.

I guess that's why they're auctioning . . . I love that glass side table.

I agree with RNDRC - clutter. I mean, Matisse is SO passe. And who even likes Mondrian any more? And whatever are they going to do with those Eileen Gray dragon chairs (estimated at 20 million)? Seriously - you can't even GIVE Picassos away any more. They might as well just give the Degas in the bathroom away.

wow what a bunch of snarky opinions; I guess I am oh-so-gauche for having the nerve to express an opinion; I didn't say CHEAP clutter, or TACKY clutter, or anything more negative than "dated", which by the way was in reference to the color-scheme (unless that is valuable and Christies-able as well); secondly, I was looking at it from a "could you live comfortably in it" standpoint. I don't think that I said that it wasn't "an amazing collection"-But of course, as usual, people have to rush to comment to prove how knowledgeable, and well, supremely cool they are-YAY! good for you! You are sooooo much cooler than I am-sorry, while I would certainly love a couple of the paintings, and wouldn't mind the $$ it cost-it's still cluttery. But of course we ARE on the website all about modest homes and a modest lifestyle, silly me!

if YSL isn't allowed to have a house like this, who is?

it's decadent and lush.

i too love those box chairs and that glass table with the branch-like base.

dated colour scheme? since when are black and timber out of fashion? this isn't a dig, it's a genuine question.

Museum-quality art and fine antiques aren't "clutter." The Ikea catalog isn't the only possible design aesthetic.

Just because it is pricey doesn't make it any less tacky. And cluttered.

I think it looks awful.

not my cup of tea, but so very old world european! It's an amazing mix of stuff, and definitely a personally-curated rather than designer-curated home. And to me, that's what makes it wonderful, even though it's not at all my cup of tea!

It's almost as fabulous as Coco Chanel's apartment, though I personally would start to feel a bit claustrophobic if I had that much stuff around.

This apartment is both hideous and revolting. Honestly, just because he's a couture legend, does it mean I'm supposed to think he can decorate? Because he can't. He should stick to dresses.

I think as a creative space it works. It is a collection of 4 decades hunt for inspiration. It's probably not meant as a family space or a casual living place to come home to and watch tv, but a working/living among your inspirations space. It's like, being inside someone's head.

Whenever we had a new project at work we'd try to surround ourselves with as much inspiration as possible for that season, working in it it puts you into a space of extra productive creativity. And for that time you live that life the aesthetic to create the look. Anyone visiting would've seen it as weird clutter. And with a solid brand like YSL, 4 decades of le creme de la creme of inspiration is....pretty awesome.

elspeth I was referring to the gold brocade couch, turquoise wall hanging, mirroring at the top of the dorrway and uneven birch paneling-sorry anywhere else it would be slammed-regardless of the price (does cost make something better?) oh, and the mirrored fireplace (unless, of course, being the Cretan that I am, I am missing it's monetary and artistic value)

*doorway

PS lisa-I don't own an ikea catalog, and haven't shopped there-but hey, generalizations ALWAYS work, right?

hot mess.

Rndrc: I agree that you have the right to express that you don't like it. I have to say, I kind of agree. But just as you have the right to to voice your disapproval, I think everybody else has the right to say that your taste is on the shoddy side. You say something like "emperor's new clothes" abut YSL's apartment and you don't expect to be snarked at? I think the cliche goes, "you made your bed, you lay on it." You don't get to be higher than thou about others being higher than thou. And about YSL's stuff being slammed elsewhere regardless of the price, I disagree. Elsewhere, it would be painfully obvious that the materials are cheap reproductions. I think YSL's reputation--and frankly, money--can vouch for his good taste (yes, his couture legend status does vouch for his taste simply because his wasn't just a taste ahead of its time. He was the proprietor of taste itself. It's like, he doesn't just have good taste. He IS good taste).

In conclusion, quit your belly-aching. If all you see is dated furniture, all we hear is that yak-yakkety-yak of somebody who, unable to defend his/her opinions and provide definition of "dated" or "clutter," resorts to feigning offense. Generalizations always work, but flailing like an emotional wreck works better always.

whiners unite!

Hee, hee! I have to agree with 'Seaside' on this one and 'Daily Nuance'...when using the word 'Horrid', were you refering to the living space or the petty arguing going on!? Either way....I agree with both of you! :)

somedudeinvicenza, chilly baby, chill.

to each his own

"Money can vouch for...good taste"? Really?

This is the kind of place that looks bad in photographs but is mesmerizing in reality.

This is the house of a bored rich man. He had all that stuff because he always needed some new item to stimulate his interest. He was (I suppose) like Warhol in this respect, who crammed a warehouse with stuff that he'd picked up, later sold at auction.

YSL would have enjoyed his apartment more if he had been poor.

Wow... all this over someone's apartment that probably looks like that for the photo shoot. Rich or poor, old or new, it's someone's tastes and someone's own collection of things, their object trail in life.

Personally, i couldn't live in a place like that (if indeed it looks like that all the time), but when we grow old (hopefully) most of our descendants will have different opinions on how to decorate our space, and will probably think ours is oh-so-very dated.

Live and let live. No one can presume to know how it feels to walk in YSL's shoes... no one, not even people fit to be comparable because, they live so very different lives.

Less is more and this is just plain more. I'm not that interested in how much stuff costs. Great for him that he could afford that and that he decorated in his own taste. For my taste, though, this one is a miss.

No wonder he died!! :)