Amanda Eliasch, photographer

It was when I got divorced [from the Head sportswear mogul Johan Eliasch] that I decided to have a proper boudoir – I suppose because I realised that, for once, I had no man saying: “Oh no, we can’t have that.” I could do what I wanted. And what I wanted was Madame Bovary.

Probably because I’ve just bought artist Tamara de Lempicka’s house in Paris, her style has rubbed off on me a bit: French and seductive, but also cosy. I’d never want to be a mistress, but if I were, I’d retreat into this sort of room: full of silks, velvets, furs, soft lighting, flowers and beautiful sheets. Somewhere a man might want to come into. So many women’s bedrooms now are horribly unsexy: so virginal and white and bland, which I can never understand. Surely it’s the one place that has to be seductive?

Of course, my idea of seductive isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some friends come in and go: “Oh God, that’s hideous.” That’s fine with me. It’s not for them. They’re my things and they make me happy. The pink dressing table, for instance, I did myself. I bought it from Lots Road in Chelsea and painted it a shade of pink that made me happy. Everyone wants things to be cream and white and to be like each other. I don’t. I want reaction and passion and life.

Actually, just about my entire life happens in this room.

I probably spend about five hours of my day here, and, of course, my nights. I have teenage boys, and their girlfriends adore coming in here to pull out my clothes and dress up, which is great fun.

Because it’s such a personal room, it’s full of things that matter to me. I don’t care for cosmetics and creams – instead, my dressing table’s a magic one, covered with charms for luck, candles, tarot cards: everything I need to bring me a happy life. I love teapots, so I’ll always have one somewhere; hats, usually my favourite Philip Treacy, a Balenciaga and a Prada; and body oils, like Agent Provocateur Rose.

The senses are very important in a woman’s boudoir. I like it dark in here: it makes me more creative. So the only lights are lamps by Mark Brazier-Jones and Oriel Harwood, which are Gothic in a Snow White rather than a Bram Stoker kind of way. I have fine Portuguese cotton sheets with blankets. I can’t do coarse linen; once you’ve slept on it, it looks vile. I’ll do leopard print – not the real thing, of course – and although I never wear lace, I like it on walls.

A boudoir is all about ambience, and you can’t get that by decorating alone. It’s about the extras: the scents, the lighting, the adornments and, of course, the music. I adore opera and divas, so my sound system has them all: Billie Holiday, Maria Callas, Amy Winehouse. I always have books: Coffee with Marilyn, The Secret, Deepak Chopra and lots of dictionaries and thesauruses, which I love to read. There’s also the lovely first editions I’ve collected: Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens.

Do I have specific outfits I wear in here? I just wear what I always wear: one of my thousands of dresses, usually short, and always very good underwear. My favourite is a La Perla corset, which is quite dominatrixy. At 47, you don’t want to wear big white knickers with broken elastic, do you? That would be letting the side down.

www.amandaeliasch.com

Sera Hersham, Loftus interior designer

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