Indochine Chic

Allen Edwards is best known for creating Farrah Fawcett’s feathered coif in the mid-’70s, but his business partner and hair stylist Claudio Lazo at Allen Edwards Salon & Serenity Spa drew inspiration from even earlier times when he designed the interior for the duo’s Brentwood-area salon.

“I was inspired by a bamboo table that was woven with seagrass,” says Lazo. “It was sort of a French-Vietnamese piece, and the whole theme evolved from that.” Bamboo, which crops up repeatedly in the salon’s furniture, accessories, and even the ceiling, hearken back to mid-19th century French colonial Vietnam. Botanical prints, ceiling fans, poured concrete floors and countertops and wicker accents add to the tropical atmosphere.

 GOING BANANAS

Lazo, enlisted his brother Octavio, a master blacksmith, to create hand-wrought iron furniture, and commissioned custom-made cabinetry. He also added 19th-century antiques to his tea-lounge area.

But it’s the replicas of vintage artwork featuring monkeys that really speak to his clientele. “In earlier times, the monkey was considered an exotic pet and a sign of wealth,” Lazo says.

—Kelly Svoboda