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A case of vanity

Self-indulgence is back, and so are the long-neglected dressing room and table, finds Eleanor Flegg

Few things distinguish the sexes like their dressing habits. While dressing tables are usually associated with the powder and puff of a woman’s boudoir, contemporary dressing rooms are sleek and masculine.

The dressing room is a legacy of the Victorian era, when husbands and wives slept in separate bedrooms with a connecting door in between. Each would have their own dressing room.

In her book, Geography of Home, Akiko Busch describes the dressing room as something of a personal sanctuary. More than a walk-in wardrobe, it’s somewhere to “indulge one’s fancies and compose one’s soul”.

The dressing table, appropriately known in America as a vanity, is a light-hearted piece of furniture with fabric-lined drawers scented with sachets. The top was traditionally covered with muslin or lace and displayed ivory, tortoiseshell or silver combs and brushes.

Busch describes the dressing table as “a piece of furniture from a time when preparing