Former Vogue Fashion Director Lucinda Chambers on Curating Her Eclectic London Home

Home, for Chambers, is an extension of this ethos. Her spaces are layered and playful, marked by small details—scribbled height charts, postcards from friends, travel mementos—that speak to a life lived visually.

For Chambers, art is never an afterthought when it comes to living; it is the core that enlivens both her domestic and creative worlds. Just as she once animated the pages of Vogue, she now delights in reshaping her own rooms and encouraging others to see art collecting as an everyday joy. Here, Chambers shares with Artsy how anyone can live with art.

Tell us a bit about your home.

Our house is in West London, and we have lived in it for over 30 years, which is hard to believe! It has gone through quite a few transformations over the years; it evolves and changes according to how the family has grown up and out. For instance, the playroom was full of toys and has now migrated happily into a TV room. The last son to leave home had a graffiti-filled room; it’s now rather a peaceful lilac-and-blue guest room.

It does feel very personal, as we have decorated it gradually; it has lots of layers to it, both in terms of texture and color. There are many small details like the height chart scribbled on the wall, other walls filled with postcards from family and friends, treasures collected on travels. So it’s the opposite of “one note,” I would say. Each room has a different atmosphere. I don’t think I did that deliberately, but rather because I did different rooms at different times. I love to experiment with color, and that is usually my starting point.

What role does art play in your home?

Art has always played a huge part in the home. It can create an atmosphere, dictate the colors you use, excite and ignite people, because it is often the first thing you and they are drawn to. Art is a deeply personal but very outward sign of what is important to you, both visually and emotionally.

I have based whole rooms on what painting or print is going to be there; it’s often my jumping-off point and leads to making choices about the furnishings, the light, the layout, everything. It is important to me to identify first and foremost what is going to hang on the walls.

Do you have different philosophies about art in different rooms?

I have very different ways of showing the art that I have, depending on the space. For instance, in the hall, it is fairly monochrome, and the walls are a soft gray-blue with shiny chocolate brown. It is calm and welcoming. The pictures reflect that. They are sketches, photographs, drawings, simple and calm.

As you climb the staircase (and there are a lot of stairs!), the colors of the pictures slightly shift and change. They get more colorful, yet there is a flow; they vary between photographs and prints. They hang quite close together, but because there is a slight absence of color, it feels restful and cohesive, calm but interesting. On the top floor, I have gone full-on color!

There is a very different atmosphere between rooms. Our bedroom is really calm with three tiny flower prints that sit in a row and pick up on the room’s tones. It is a pretty space, peaceful and quiet, and the pictures reflect this. In another bedroom, I have hung very modern abstract paintings, less personal and more of a statement. I really like playing around with what atmosphere I can bring into a space.

What’s the first piece of art you ever bought?

An Edward Weston print. It is the smallest picture in the house, but probably the most precious. I have been interested in photography throughout my career, and very early on, I was drawn to Weston’s work.

There’s a simplicity and strength that he brings not only to the women that he photographed consistently, but also to his still lifes. I bought it cheaply and was thrilled to buy it because it set me on a path to go looking at auction houses and photo fairs to discover less well-known photographers.

Can you share a favorite piece in your collection right now?

I love a painting that I inherited from my mother. It’s called Children on the Beach at Dinard by Leslie Porter. Even though we moved 17 times before I was 18, this and two other paintings followed us around.

I can’t look at it objectively anymore because it is so hardwired in my memories, but I know that I love it and have done since childhood.

Can you share any meaningful stories or rituals around art you’ve lived with?

My most meaningful memory about art really changed the course of my life. We always had a tiny oil painting, maybe 5 inches by 3 inches, hanging wherever we lived and hung in random spots. It was blocks of strange color, some brighter and mostly very dark.

One day, I must have been about 13, I asked my mother what she thought it could be. She said, “Darling, it’s Glasgow Airport at night.” Of course it was. It made perfect sense.

From that moment, I began to understand the power and beauty of telling stories, whether through art, or clothes, or anything that wasn’t literal. That you could be expressive with a suggestion—it was like a light being turned on for me.

How has your taste evolved?

My taste has definitely changed over the years and still is! I am endlessly curious, and I like to push boundaries. I have more confidence now.

When I was young, I was very “cottage core.” I loved flowers, both in clothes and in and around everything, from cushions to curtains and everything in between. And most of it matched!

Now, I am drawn to things that challenge me: abstract paintings, colors that seem wrong but feel right, ceramics that are a bit Brutalist. I love to change things around, disrupt a bit, and stimulate the eye.

Do you approach collecting art similarly to how you approach your own creative work?

My whole career is about the power of transformation, and this comes from decorating. Whether it’s for the body as in fashion, in homes, or set design, visual narratives and storytelling are innate in me.

A model is a character; the home has a personality, and there are no differences. I just want to tell stories. Art is a very powerful way to start. I have often done shoots where they have been based on a painting, colors, or the woman depicted; it’s a very inspirational place to start.

What’s your process when choosing a new piece for your space?

I tend to fall in love with a piece of art and then see where it could fit. Not always, though. When I was thinking about how to decorate the sitting room, I knew that I wanted the painting that my brother gave me to take center stage. The colors of the walls and everything in them started from that picture.

These days, I like to give artwork quite a lot of space around it, so it can breathe and speak. This wasn’t always the case. I used to hang everything jammed up, cheek by jowl, any old how. I realized over time that you then didn’t see anything! It was too much. Now, art in the house has a flow and momentum that I am much happier with.

Are there any artists or artworks you’re currently excited about?

I am very excited about Collagerie’s new artists. There are 22 new pieces in the collection, and they are absolutely beautiful. We have just shot them and they looked wonderful!

What advice would you give to someone looking to start buying art?

The best thing I ever did—when the pictures reached critical mass and I was hanging them every which way—was to ask a professional picture hanger. I didn’t know one existed, and it was the best money I spent. We had just had the hall and stairs redecorated after 20 years, and I left the house for the day and said, “Hang whatever you like and don’t worry about leaving anything out.”

I came back to a house transformed. There was a flow and an intelligence to it that made total sense, but I wouldn’t have had the vision, distance, or clarity to have done what he did. It was like seeing everything for the first time. I learned a lot from that.

My other piece of advice is to look at the work and not the frame. One of my favorite paintings is a rather crude but beautiful nude in bright red and black. It looked vaguely hideous but fabulous and strong. Awful frame. I framed it with a very modern, stark white one, and it was immediately transformed. Framing can do that, and one of my greatest pleasures is to choose the right one, to take it somewhere else, and put it in a different context.

Those, and don’t be a snob. The humblest of pictures can bring you great pleasure.