LIFE AT THE SALON

Places of beauty, be they spas or salons, are once again taking the power of aesthetics seriously. So take your time in the waiting room after your facial: The chairs might be midcentury.

- By SARAH BROWN

Over his 40-year career, Billy Baldwin undertook only one commercial project: society hairdresser Kenneth Battelle's chintz- and chinoiserie-splashed 1960s salon in New York.

Like the gilded preserves of Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden that came before it, the five-story townhouse on East 54th Street was a temple to glamour, an homage to the pursuit of pampering, a clubhouse for its well-heeled, high-haired regulars, designed with the luxuries and comforts of home—if you lived somewhere splendid.

Today a new crop of projects that sit within the realm of beauty are once again attracting the attention, and the imaginations, of the design world's leading decorators. They are spas and salons, boutique gyms, bathing clubs, and luxurious longevity clinics that reflect the prominent role health and well-being play in our lives.

Designers are approaching these spaces with an intentionality and thoughtfulness usually reserved for residential projects, creating functional, design-led interiors that foster a sense of warmth, intimacy, safety, and calm. As people focus more of their energy, budget, and time on self-care, a new desire for social well-being is emerging. (Or, rather, reemerging. See: Roman, Turkish, Japanese, and Russian baths.) With it comes a demand for beautifully designed spaces that support such activities. Peter Harper, one half of the Los Angeles-based interior design duo Breland-Harper, likens this new crop of spas and fitness studios to the ancient agora: “a semi private public space for people to commune in. These are the places where we choose to spend our time outside the domestic realm,” he says.