DRESS TO IMPRESS

A dedicated space to do hair and make-up with a dressing table, chair, mirror and places for toiletries is a useful and enjoyable addition to a bedroom, writes Jacqueline Wake Young

You might have guessed Madame de Pompadour would have something to do with it. As a member of the French court and official chief mistress of King Louis XV (now there’s a job title), she spent a lot of time having to make herself look good and at that time such things in those circles were a spectator sport. It was known as public dressing and became popular during the reign of Louis XIV when courtiers would pile into the royal bedroom suite to chat and watch its occupants getting done up for the day.

It could go on for hours and so Madame de Pompadour wanted somewhere she could sit and do her paperwork as well as putting on her face while people milled about in the bedroom.

Furniture designer Jean-Francois Oeben was tasked with making her a piece which could serve as a writing desk and vanity and in the process started a trend for the “poudreuse” that would spread across Europe during the 18th Century.

At an exhibition entitled Metropolitan Vanities: The History of the Dressing Table at the Met in New York, a mechanical table circa 1761-63 by Oeben and Roger Vandercruse went on display.

It was engineered so that the top would slide back as the front moves forward to reveal the vanity mirror and compartments within.

The Met curators said the table had been intended for Madame de Pompadour and it depicted a tower from her coat of arms.

Dressing tables may have gained popularity towards the end of the 1700s, but the idea of a vanity area, with boxes and vessels for holding cosmetics, goes back as far as the ancient Egyptians – and we know those guys loved their eye make-up.

Toiletries remained mostly portable for centuries but dedicated spaces to store and apply them started to emerge with names such as toilet table, low boy, Beau Brummel and shaving table, and they gained mirrors, basins and compartments.

These days they are likely to serve the dual function of storage and a place to do one’s hair and make-up.

Modern dressing tables are not that much different from Madame de Pompadour’s poudreuse – only without the spectators.

Upcycled dressing table in Dunelm Peacock Eggshell emulsion paint, £29, Dunelm.

Kam Ce Kam Divaar screen in cane and ash, £3,500, Nest.

Gold and glass triple dressing table mirror, £55, Oliver Bonas. Odette fringe stool, £470, LuxDeco.

Floral jewellery stand, £45, Oliver Bonas.

Butterfly Ginkgo vanity mirror, £335, LuxDeco.

Deco round mirror tray, £39.50, M&S.

Conway oak-effect console dressing table, £325, Next Home.

Dark Emperador Marble Maskara dressing table set £5,120, Luxdeco.

FACE TIME: Dwell Domina bedroom dressing table in dark wood and grey marble, £499, DFS.