The Vintage Pinks

In August 1996 Vogue ran an article entitled “Does your house suit you?” Plum Sykes interviewed women whose homes reflected their whole style ethos.

One of these women was Yvonne Spore, a stylist, whose plaster pink walls enthralled my 17-year-old mind so much so, that I still have the article.

Believe it or not there weren’t even many images in the article other than the one below. But the description blew my mind.

“What just happened was this: she knocked out the interior of a suburban house, raised the roof, left the newly plastered walls their pinkish colour, put down limed-oak floors – “They look like they’ve been washed and washed” – and moved in her two beige cats and extensive wardrobe, the colours of which range from mother of pearl and oyster to cappuccino. She complements the house and the house flatters her style; it’s a créme-caramel experience.

As Lucille Lewin of Whistles says. “Yvonne just is vanilla. Her hair, her clothes – she even smells like vanilla”.

I wanted to be vanilla. I really wanted to be vanilla!

The whole idea of a style permeating through any and every outlet was incredibly appealing – I even bought some vanilla perfume from Body Shop to be just like Yvonne.

I think I may have gone slightly overboard on the whole perfume bit because vanilla now makes me feel slightly nauseous but four houses down the line, those plaster pink walls are still with me.

I can’t actually say that I have ever gone as far as to leave my walls unpainted (although that’s only because my husband would disapprove massively) but I do realise that I have a slight colour obsession, only not with vanilla, I’m vintage pink!

I can spot that slightly dusty salmony pink from a far and I’m hooked.

I can see it in the Zara Wood illustration I just bought, a vintage coat and a slightly saucy pin up pic I found at the vintage fair this weekend, my 1920’s lampshade and my grandmother’s beautiful Edwardian quilt cover – the colour even makes it way into my boards on pinterest.