“I like the tension of juxtaposing old-school glamour with things that are a little edgy and bold,” he explains. Within that framework, however, he added distinctly contemporary accents and flourishes that move the decor into the here and now, closely aligned with the tastes of his clients.

Jackson approached the project as a restoration, honoring Himmel’s ambitious vision by returning the floor plans to their original configuration and reusing many of the furnishings that Himmel himself had either selected or custom-designed for the house. But once you get inside, it’s truly over the top, with a sense of grandeur in its massing and materiality,” adds the designer, who is perhaps better known for sleek yet lush modernist interiors than high ’80s decorative drama. “The house is very quiet and protected from the street, almost disappearing behind the palm trees and hedges. “This was one of Himmel’s last projects, and it bears all of his hallmarks,” says Jackson. The house was originally designed in 1999 by the late Chicago interiors maestro Richard Himmel, a frequent presence in the pages of AD, with Holden & Johnson serving as architects of record. It seems only fitting that their desert refuge should radiate the kind of sumptuous, unapologetic California luxury that was the bread and butter of Architectural Digest in past decades. The couple’s beauty empire, built around the archetypal Umberto salon on Canon Drive in Los Angeles, has for decades been synonymous with unreconstructed Beverly Hills swank. Fortunately Jackson’s clients-master haircutter Umberto Savone and his wife and business partner, Babette Beja-Savone-are no strangers to glamour. “If the design direction isn’t complete 1980s glamour, this might not be the right house for you,” he warned them.

Designer Ryan Gordon Jackson recalls the caveat he issued when he first saw the home his clients were contemplating in Rancho Mirage, California.

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