Seems like the 20th century was definitely a period of cool inventions and creations that are still remembered today.
Among those creations was the peacock chair, also known as the throne-like chair.
Chairs like this became popular during the early period of the 20th century in America, after being imported from the Philippines. First, they were used in photography studios, parlors and smoking rooms in prestigious houses.
Later, the chair was favored by celebrities who liked to take their photos in it, which made them look even more fabulous than they already were.
Made of strong but lightweight material, the chair’s impressive throne design was the crucial feature that made it so famous. At first sight, it may seem like a simple piece of furniture but once you sit in it and make yourself comfortable, a sense of dominance takes over you and you feel powerful.
However, we all know that a person’s power is boosted by their self-confidence, and those who feel confident about themselves always leave a powerful impression. This chair had that kind of influence on people and perhaps that’s why everyone liked it so much in the first place.
It was a booster of confidence and we can notice that dominant attitude and confident look in the eyes of those who used the chair for taking photos.
Famous people like Truman Capote, Marc Bolan, Al Di Meola, Francoise Hardy, Jasper Johns, Norma Talmadge, Al Green, Diana Ross, Dolly Parton, Elisabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Robert Plant, and many others took photos on the famous chair.
One such celebrity who was practically ‘addicted’ to the throne-like chair was Brigitte Bardot. We must say that she looked like a real goddess sitting on her ‘throne.’
According to Dangerous Minds, during the second half of the century, a poster of Huey P. Newton, the African-American political activist and co-founder of the Black Panther Party, changed the throne-like impression of the chair and associated it with hipster youth.
Although the chair has a lot of variations, the glamorous and powerful yet casual impression it gives in photos of people posing in it will always remain.