When you live such a public life, you need boundaries,” RuPaul insists, emphasizing his preference for intimate gatherings and small dance parties with close friends. “ I entertain on television, not at my house. Given the outsize scale and spectacle of the ballroom, one might expect the space to be used for high-octane revelries packed with legions of glitterati. A Herb Ritts photograph of RuPaul takes its place among the galaxy of divas on the walls. Curtain fabric from Bullard’s collection for The Shade Store. A tondo featuring a 1975 portrait of Diana Ross by photographer Harry Langdon surmounts a custom fireplace that evokes the work of Dorothy Draper, one of the guiding lights for Bullard’s decor.ĭisco balls by Omega Mirror Products hang above a Martyn Lawrence Bullard Atelier table and chairs in Schumacher Faux Bois fabric in the ballroom. To the left is the jaw-dropping ballroom, a coup de théâtre crowned with an array of monumental disco balls and covered in photographs of divas on the order of Billie Holiday, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt, and Dorothy Dandridge. To the right is the formal living room, outfitted with jewel-toned fabrics and pagoda-form étagères that nod to the great decorator Tony Duquette. As for decorative drama, the slay bells start ringing the moment one steps through the front door into a palatial, powdery-rose entry hall featuring a sweeping stairway with serious Mommie Dearest overtones. Working with architect Christopher Hatch McLean, Bullard recast the complexion of the house by modifying the existing mansard roof, reconfiguring railings and colonnades, and adding a host of neoclassical details. Carpet by Martyn Lawrence Bullard for The Rug Company window treatments by Martyn Lawrence Bullard for The Shade Store. The sofas are covered in a Manuel Canovas velvet, and the club chair in Jim Thompson Fabrics malachite pattern. The upholstered seating, cocktail table, and étagère in the living room were designed by Martyn Lawrence Bullard Atelier. It’s the ultimate runway for the supermodel of the world,” the designer raves, adding, “I could not imagine a more appropriate place for the universe’s drag mother to hold court.” “This is the house of Ru, a mansion of style designed as the center stage for the world’s most famous and celebrated drag queen. Draping his magician’s cloak over a grand but uninspired residence built in the 1980s, Bullard transformed the property into a fever dream of Hollywood Regency style that bridges old-school Beverly Hills swank and the vivacious, larger-than-life spirit of his client. I can go as far as your imagination will take us.’”Īnd go for it he did. “We’ve always loved Martyn’s aesthetic, so we trusted him,” RuPaul says. When the Drag Race impresario and his husband, rancher Georges LeBar, acquired a Beverly Hills mansion as their new home base in Los Angeles, they naturally called on Bullard, a friend of nearly three decades, to make it pop. Bullard, a mainstay of the AD100, is no stranger to enchantment himself-he, too, has built an international reputation based on unapologetic, often outré beauty. RuPaul, of course, is the queen of drag, a revolutionary performer and avatar of glamour recognized around the globe. Not since Carlos de Beistegui teamed up with Emilio Terry-or perhaps not since Auntie Mame joined forces with Yul Uhlu-have a client and a decorator been more happily matched than RuPaul Andre Charles and Martyn Lawrence Bullard.
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