Traditionally a dressing table has been the focal point of a woman's bedroom, a shrine to her private thoughts and her most feminine possessions. It can be a focus of female vanity and luxury, inspiring lovely grooming accessories and containers for perfumes, powders and trinkets. Or it can be a cluttered mess, the furniture equivalent of an overstuffed handbag. Why is this sometimes cumbersome piece of furniture still so popular? Where did the concept originate? And what does its use over time say about women’s role in society?
