Cosmo Gets Delayed at the Office

Photographed by Tim Street-Porter. Scanned from Cosmopolitan, February 1973.

Still slowly settling into my lovely studio space; trying to avoid the pitfalls of the ‘I must fill it up, it must look exactly how I want it to immediately‘ mentality, to which I know I am vulnerable. Slowly, but surely. My beloved Lloyd Loom table and chair are out of storage and awaiting a respray from their slightly grotty boudoir pink to… I don’t know yet.

I am on a promise for an original ladderax bureau unit, inherited indirectly from my grandparents, to store my reference books, magazines and paperwork. The framed pictures are stacking up in the corners, waiting for locations. The last thing I want is for it to feel like an office. I want it to feel like a creative, comfortable studio space. I discovered a long time ago, whilst temping, that a ‘trad’ office environment is really, really not for me.

So while I am developing things slowly, I am also taking inspiration from this fantastic Cosmopolitan feature on businesswomen and their office spaces. The chaos of Diane Logan’s millinery studio is probably closest to my natural style:

“You have to create a look like this out of rubbish*. It doesn’t just arrive.”

But there is plenty to admire and covet in all three.

*I don’t approve of the word ‘rubbish’, but I approve of her sentiment.

Scanned from Cosmopolitan, February 1973.