Go Fug Your Room - is this right for Elle Deco?

I don’t usually like to use unknown people for ‘Go Fug Your Room’ – it’s generally far more satisfying to diss celebrities and famous designers - but I have to admit this recent photoshoot in Elle Deco UK  of the New York apartment belonging to Leif Sigersen, a Danish set designer, left me rather befuddled and confused.

Sigersen is described as a collector of ‘weathered vintage pieces and quirky accessories’  who has turned his home into a ‘showcase of stunning displays’.

Or has he?

This looks like a particularly squalid student bedsit. 

Since when does a pile of leather sandals piled up on a rusty radiator equal either interior design or a ‘collection’?

Aren’t kitchens meant to be for cooking? And isn’t this all a little unhygienic?

And who does all the dusting?

I think the plants must have died of depression.

So, I can just about get on board with the restrained colour palette and use of texture, though it’s not exactly my cup of tea; and there are probably some very interesting vintage pieces in with all the old junk and I genuinely think the photography (by Ditte Isager) is delicious and redolent with atmosphere.

I could probably be persuaded to classify this as conceptual art if you asked me nicely, but seriously, does it count as interior design and decor? And if it does would Elle Deco like to come and photograph our basement?

Really interested to hear your thoughts.

poll by twiigs.com

Comments

[mlle paradis]

i'm kind of with you on the sandals. (huh?!)

[Beth]

You nailed it! Your comments are absolutely correct and right on! There is nothing remotely peaceful about this place and it is exactly the "look" I am always working to AVOID in my own home (including the dead plants). I feel like this "designer" is playing a trick on us and laughs inwardly, knowing his house is just an untidy mess yet he's getting away with calling it "decor" (or as you said, "art"). If this look is "in" than I am as hip as hip can be and I hate it.

[Paola]

Beth, that's exactly what I thought. It all seemed very 'emperor's new clothes' to me...

[lottie]

emperor's new clothes is spot on. i was really disappointed to see it in that issue and quickly skimmed past those pages.

[Katherine]

Well, it's got lots of things I normally like, but as my mum used to say to my sisters when they got wound up teasing each other - 'you've gone too far'. Doesn't do it for me±

[illahee]

my thoughts? "what a mess!" seriously, my house looks like that already, except it's mostly toys strewn about. maybe my kids should get paid as interior decorators!

[Cate]

Just a mess, I would have to be out with the swiffer all the time and where is the comfort.

[K]

I had to check it wasn't April 1.

[thebubbreport]

I think it's a new trend in home photo styling. I blame the latest iteration of Grey Gardens on HBO (bohemia? More like stinky, flea-infested, cat pee health hazard), Don Draper's commie girlfriend's flat in Season 1 of Mad Men, and Brooklyn modern-gone-messy (I recall seeing a place on design*sponge with an unmade bed and lots of gauzy curtains that looked rather beautiful.

Spot on Paola! Now go look at page 118 of the US Elle Decor for December. You're gonna fugging hate it!