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Robinson gutted the kitchen, retaining only the cobalt blue appliances, which she loved. The wall is clad in marble and brass tile. A pair of guinea hens from Creme de la Creme inspired the blue-and-green color scheme. The wallpaper and roman shade fabric are Scalamandre.
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A neutral palette and nature-inspired prints create an oasis of calm in the bedroom. The vintage Hollywood Regency style chair is one of a pair that Robinson had recovered. The wallpaper and fabrics were sourced through Kim Garrod Designs.
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A mannequin displays one of Robinson’s dress designs, meant to be worn to ladies’ luncheons, tea parties or polo matches, and always with a hat. The closet cabinetry is from California Closets.
Dress designer Rebecca Robinson spent decades attending galas and formal events. She lived in Munich for 11 years with her husband, a television producer, and regularly joined him at the Grammys and international film awards. After her husband’s death in 2003, Robinson moved back home to Virginia and focused her attention on her toddler son. A decade later, however, the pair moved to Palm Beach, Florida, looking for a fresh start, and Robinson began attending a stream of charity events and galas.
Along the way, she developed a strong sense of personal style — and the slinky dresses she saw hanging in Neiman Marcus and Saks did not fit the bill.
So, Robinson started designing her own gowns and cocktail dresses.
“I much prefer the classic, elegant ’50s style,” she says. “I wanted to enhance the shoulders, back and legs — the other beautiful parts of a woman’s body.”
In addition to vintage silhouettes, she uses bold colors and patterns, luxury fabrics from Milan and Paris, and handmade feather and beading trim from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. She also isn’t afraid to mix couture with fast-fashion accents.
Fellow gala attendees raved about her dresses, and Robinson soon launched a design business. She held fashion shows on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, and designer Jimmy Choo hosted her collections in his stores.
Then the pandemic hit, and the galas stopped. Robinson decided to buy a second-story walkup in her hometown of Richmond and split her time between Virginia and Florida.
Her Fan District condo became her next creative outlet. Just like her fashion aesthetic, she blends bright colors and metallics with rich textures and a mix of high and low accents.
Robinson says she traded her fabric samples for wallpapers and spent months researching thousands of possibilities until she found herself repeatedly drawn to particular patterns. A lush green crocodile print lines the walls of her walk-in closet. In her office, she paired John Paul Gaultier’s tattoo-inspired designs with an antique book print. The ceiling of her living room features a flurry of colorful butterflies and dragonflies set against metallic gold — a pattern from Christian Lacroix.
“We were so trapped during COVID, and that butterfly wallpaper made me feel so free,” she says.
Throughout the condo, Robinson has curated collections of art and objects that remind her of various people and places. A photo of Robinson and her brother Joey sits atop an early edition of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” while a painting of a young skateboarder hangs on the wall above it. Both remind her of her late brother.
Nearby are paintings by Keith Haring and Salvador Dalí (a favorite of Robinson’s late husband), first-edition books by Winston Churchill, and Biedermeier chairs, a hot pink French bulldog from Home Goods and her own abstract artwork.
Some pieces nod to the places Robinson once called home. After living next door to The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach and earning the nickname “the neighbor,” Robinson couldn’t resist a watercolor painting of the pastel pink building. Two abstract paintings by German artist Peter Zimmermann, made with layers of amorphous glassy epoxy, fill the walls of her dining room. Robinson discovered the artist in Munich.
“I kept my most meaningful treasures, and a lot of it is emotional,” she says. “My condo reflects my life.”