In a salon created by designer Neil Renouf for his husband, salon owner John Joesph Cronin, maximalism becomes atmosphere rather than decoration. It is also where I now work alongside John and, on Sunday, 8 November, where we will shoot the Christmas editorial for the relaunched Manner Magazine.
The space feels far removed from the familiar language of contemporary salon design. There is no attempt at careful neutrality or anonymous luxury. Instead, it has the intimacy of a private drawing room: richly layered, theatrical and entirely confident in its own identity.
Crystal chandeliers hang against sheer ivory curtains, while gilded mirrors catch fragments of the room from different angles. Carved furniture sits beside orchids, classical sculpture and huge arrangements of foliage. A worn upholstered sofa, piled with patterned cushions, faces an oval marquetry table; dark timber, antique gold and flashes of deep blue run throughout the space. The effect is abundant without feeling indiscriminate.
The salon is layered rather than matched: crystal, carved timber, orchids, patterned upholstery and gilded detail.
What makes it work is the restraint within the decoration. Soft drapery offsets the weight of the antique furniture, planting gives movement to the more formal elements, and reflections add depth rather than visual noise. There are eccentric moments a classical bust beneath a pleated navy lampshade, a flash of red-and-gold upholstery, a painted screen glimpsed beyond the seating but they feel collected rather than arranged.
It is exactly the kind of interior that interests me because it has not been designed to appeal to everyone. So much contemporary design relies on pale surfaces, polished finishes and a kind of careful neutrality. Neil has taken the opposite approach. The room feels personal, romantic and slightly theatrical, while remaining completely usable as a working salon.
Seen through the window, the interior becomes a composition of curtains, flowers, gilt and deep blue.
At the centre of it are John Joesph Cronin and Neil Renouf. Neil created the environment; John gives it its life as a salon. Working alongside John feels natural because we can each retain our own approach and our own relationship with our clients. There is no expectation that either the hair or the people entering the space should conform to a single aesthetic.
John Joesph Cronin and Neil Renouf the working and creative partnership behind the salon.
From outside, the room takes on a different character altogether. The traditional frontage divides the interior into a sequence of framed views, revealing just enough of what is happening beyond the glass. In the evening, with the interior illuminated, it has the quality of a small stage: inviting without being obvious, and intriguing enough to make you look twice.
That makes it particularly suited to what happens next. On Sunday, 8 November, the salon becomes the location for the Christmas edition of the relaunched Manner Magazine.
From the street, the salon glows through its traditional frontage part shop window, part stage set.
What excites me about using it for the shoot is that we are not beginning with a blank studio and trying to manufacture atmosphere. The atmosphere already exists. The room offers texture, scale, reflections and unexpected sightlines before a model even steps in front of the camera.
For an editorial, that changes everything. Hair can be kept beautifully simple against a highly detailed background, or allowed to respond to the drama of the room. A controlled silhouette against a gilded mirror, movement caught beneath a chandelier, or a clean shape framed by soft curtains can all create very different images without ever leaving the space.
The strongest fashion photographs, for me, happen when hair, clothes, setting and light all appear to belong to the same world. Nothing should feel added simply because an image needs filling. The salon gives us that world immediately.
There is something particularly appropriate about it becoming part of Manner's return. A magazine needs an identity just as much as a salon does. It needs to feel specific enough that you recognise its point of view before you have read every word or studied every photograph.
On an ordinary day, this is where John and I work. On Sunday, it becomes our editorial location. The room does not need to change very much for either.
That is probably the best compliment you can give it.
People & links: John Joesph Cronin · Neil Renouf · Manner Magazine · Facebook MannerJersey · Instagram @MannerJsy
