Oftentimes, looking back at archival images is the most powerful way to remind you of furniture that goes overlooked. Such is the case in Barack and Michelle Obama’s Chicago living room, seen in an image from 2004, five years before he served as the 44th president of the United States. In the image, I spotted a forgotten sofa trend: A divan.
As a celebrity style editor, I've written about hundreds of living rooms, but I rarely see figures decorating with a divan. Perhaps the most bohemian of all sofas, a divan is characterised by its low profile, designed without a back, sort of like an upholstered bench. Famously, Sigmund Freud's patients reclined on a divan during psychoanalysis, but Obama's green, brown gold living room is the most stylish twist to date.
