The LA Times takes a closer look at “bordello chic,” the latest trend in interior design that is sexing up businesses and nightclubs on the Left Coast. At club Voyeur, the chairs are all SM-themed, with lace-up corsets, leather straps, and restraint harnesses. Taking a nod from old-fashioned men’s clubs and bordellos, the look is a mix of upscale old-school and 21st century bondage chic. According to one designer, Lori Erenberg, this kinky impulse is a reflection of the economic climate. “I think this look is very timely, because there’s a lot of pain going on right now,” Erenberg opines. At the L.A. outpost of the racy lingerie-and-adult-goods shop Coco de Mer, customers try on undergarments in a “confessional” booth-cum-dressing room. Designer Aimee Less, who designed the Corset chair seen here, says her piece “evokes both pleasure and pain, freedom and enslavement.” Sounds interesting, but how comfortable it is depends on the kinks of the sitter. [LA Times]
