Devil’s Advocate
Laurence Llewelyn Bowen
Where Beatmag defends the indefensible.
Miranda Michaelides of interior design company MiMi Interiors (www.mimiinteriors.com) argues the case for the most irritatingly foppish man on television – Laurence Llewelyn Bowen
Yes, he’s a ponce. Yes, he looks like a dodgy new romantic wannabe from the early 1980s. And yes, he’s incorrigibly egocentric. This is a man who has dedicated an entire page of his website to photographs of himself. One clicks on the Photographs page of his website expecting to see a gallery of his design work but instead are subjected to the worse kind of cheesy high street photography of the man himself. The images range from him looking seductively into the camera, dressed in pink rose printed pyjamas holding a single red rose to his cheek to staged images of him and his wife out boating/opening presents/at home with the kids. One wonders if these are the images on Christmas cards he sends to friends and family in the vein of the Queen or Prime Minister. This is man who either takes himself far too seriously or is happy to ridicule himself on the World Wide Web.
It’s too easy to mock Laurence Llewelyn Bowen though – he has big, coiffed hair. He dresses like an 18th Century dandy. He does TV adverts for coffee/chocolate/washing powder. He pouts. But to be fair to him, it all looks to be done tongue in cheek.
More important, though, is what’s brought this character to our attention? Not only is he a flamboyant interior designer in his own right (from Covent Garden’s Opera Terrace to Keith Floyd’s restaurant) but he has also brought the world of design to the masses. He has single handedly brought it to a level where design is accessible to all and not just the rich and famous. He has encouraged people to tap into their creativity and think about their living space as an extension and an impression of themselves. And if they can’t do it for themselves, then get a professional in.
He first flounced onto our screens in September 1996 in the makeover show Changing Rooms, a brand new genre of TV programme. Since then, we have been bombarded with all sorts of such programmes but Changing Rooms remains the hot favourite (into its 10th series and still drawing viewers of 12 million) and where LLB has been promoted from occasional designer to show presenter.
To those unfamiliar with Changing Rooms, it is a weekly show where two couples, as the title suggests, swap rooms, and with £500 and an interior designer in tow, look to completely transform what they have into something they would never dreamed of. All in two days. But it wasn’t the tips on how to build an entire extension from MDF, curtains from bin liners or lampshades from photos of your family that made people tune in. No, it was for that moment when the couple saw their own room again. When the fun and frolics whilst redesigning their neighbour’s room stopped and turned into horror and disdain when they saw what had been done to their room by their so called friends This is what made this show so popular. And Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, a then unknown designer, contributed greatly. It was in these early shows that everything the man touched turned to purple.
Since Changing Rooms, he has gone on to make programmes such as Fantasy Rooms and Home Front where he’s able to show off his talent and give a client their dream room. Design Rules followed, an intelligently conceived programme, which taught the fundamental rules of interior design. Since then he has become a household name, at least in the UK, and brought out his own range of homeware products such as lighting, wallpaper, cutlery, etc, all well-designed pieces but, as importantly, affordable. Unlike many designers, who make their items exclusive, Laurence Llewellyn Bowen removes the snob factor from design and makes it inclusive. Thus giving people on the lowest incomes the opportunity to add a ‘designers touch’ to their home.
Of course, some of his designs are not to everyone’s taste. And yes, he probably loves himself more than even his wife does. But so what? The man is famous for what he is good at, which is more than most contemporary celebrities could claim, and he does it with a unique style. From his name to his designs, from his outfits to his questionable family history (he claims to be descended from Merlin, King Arthur’s court magician) the man has a sense of theatre about him. Flamboyant and an individual, Lewellyn Bowen also knows his stuff, which is why I will happily take his side in an argument. Although perhaps not that of his rose-print pajamas.
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