A quiet life was never on the cards for fashion designer Olivia von Halle. After all, she met her husband Hugo on the dancefloor at a psychedelic-trance rave. The couple, who are now parents to Hieronymus (seven), Dionysus (four) and Triptych (two) – also known as Hiero, Chaos and Trip – split their time between a Jacobean property in Wiltshire, built in 1640, and a colourful, five-storey 1890s home in Ladbroke Grove, London. ‘We wanted a house we could really grow into,’ von Halle says of the latter, which they bought in 2017, having made an offer immediately after the viewing. ‘It has beautiful light and the most enormous windows. The proportions are grand, but it’s very cool.’
Six months after moving in, the pair renovated the property’s ground floor, which guests enter via a stucco façade (‘we place candles up the steps for big drinks parties’) in front of a six-foot pond and wildflower meadow in the garden. The family (then of three) lived upstairs during the renovation, transforming the first- floor drawing room into a ‘crude’ kitchen while builders got to work to create their new, zebra-marble-topped one, as well as the play and boot rooms. ‘We had one child at the time, so it was pretty easy,’ says von Halle. Another round of renovations began in March 2020, and saw them move in with Hugo’s mother, before the family – which had, by this time, grown to five – moved back in, just two weeks after Trip was born in March 2021.
Creating the opulent interiors came naturally for von Halle, whose eponymous nightwear brand, worn by stars including Gigi Hadid and Sophie Turner, is synonymous with vibrant colours. ‘I’m very confident with my style – I go with what I love, and never worry if something is going to be too bright,’ she says. In contrast with the uncurated aesthetic of her childhood home – a ‘higgledy-piggledy house in Kent made up of farm cottages and a barn’ – von Halle wanted to lean into the ‘distinct personality’ of her Victorian house, and recruited the help of interior-design studio Golden Design. ‘It was a collaboration – they encouraged me to develop what I wanted.’
Unlike her choices for her label, famed for its bold, eclectic prints, at home von Halle eschewed pattern in favour of colour blocking. ‘I look at prints all day long for work, so I need a cleanse,’ she explains. The palette here includes Sanderson’s sunshine- yellow Ming Gold paint in the hallway, a cocooning hue – Benjamin Moore’s Delicate Peach – in the main bedroom, and a shrimp-pink, BYR 201 by Mylands, in the drawing room (‘the whole space glows – it’s like being in the womb’), with co-ordinating lacquer side tables. ‘We spent a lot of time on colour when decorating. It was important to get it right. Every room you walk into provides a complete experience – it’s like a psychedelic trip.’
Her dressing room, painted in Paint & Paper Library’s zesty green Euphorbia, with a colour-matched Westex carpet, makes it clear that subtlety isn’t part of von Halle’s interior vernacular. ‘You don’t have to worry about everything being perfectly co-ordinated; things just work together,’ she says of its confident colour scheme, complemented by a custom Houtique pouf and a cast-iron roll-top bath by Aston Matthews. This philosophy also guides her fashion choices. Inside the built-in wardrobes (upholstered in a silk-twill von Halle print depicting her horse, Herman) hang myriad dresses by Alessandra Rich and The Vampire’s Wife, each imbued with memories from weddings and birthday parties. Alongside them are, in the designer’s estimation, more than 100 pairs of her signature silk pyjamas. ‘It’s an embarrassing amount,’ she admits.
Artwork is also a focal point. As well as the cherished Cecil Beaton sketches that line the staircase, von Halle gushes over a piece by London-based photo- grapher Jason Shulman, sourced by art consultants Cramer & Bell. Titled Dumbo, it consists of layered images from the Disney film. Then there’s the striking acrylic oil-panel painting, by the New York-based artist Nicolas Holiber, above the Jamb fireplace in the drawing room. ‘It’s quite a scary picture,’ von Halle admits. ‘It’s a pastiche and full of distorted faces. My son Hiero said it was “beautiful, but terrifying”.’
This article appears in the 2024 February issue of ELLE UK.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
