Dilly Dally Vanity

Architect, freelance journalist and furniture designer Luigi Massoni (1930–2013) was instrumental in the growth of Italy’s postwar design industry through his advertising campaigns, his work at Italian magazines and revolutionary products such as his vanity tables.

Vanities have forever felt like personal, intimate sanctuaries, and vintage Luigi Massoni vanity tables are on the wish list of many mid-century modern design enthusiasts.

Massoni’s Dilly Dally vanity unit, initially created for Poltrona Frau in the late 1960s, is a seductive iteration of this widely loved furnishing. With its sleek cylindrical plastic shell and plush leatherette seat — which tucks into a dressing table on chromed wheels that features a lift-top panel enclosing the unit’s mirror — the Milanese designer’s distinctive nesting Dilly Dally vanity table as well as his other mid-century modern vanities have garnered a legion of admirers on social media these days, to no surprise.

Find a range of vintage Luigi Massoni vanity tables, lighting and other furniture today on 1stDibs.

Luigi Massoni was one of Italy’s most prolific designers and instrumental in the growth of the country’s design industry in the postwar years through his products, advertising campaigns and journalistic work at Italian magazines.

Born in Milan, Massoni trained at the Collettivo di Architettura in Milan and worked as an architect and designer as well as a freelance journalist and consultant. He was involved with many of Italy’s most influential brands, such as Poltrona Frau, the Guzzini group and Alessi. Massoni was hired by Alessi, the legendary housewares and kitchen utensils manufacturer, which had been around since 1921, in the mid-1950s. In 1957, he collaborated with like-minded product designer Carlo Mazzeri on the universally renowned stainless-steel cocktail shaker 870, which, followed by other kitchen containers for the brand, was one of the first objects from Alessi that hadn’t been created in-house.

Together with architect Carlo De Carli, Massoni founded a magazine called Il Mobile Italiano and later Mobilia, an association of Italian furniture makers and one of the first organizations that focused on the promotion of Italian design. In the 1960s, Massoni began to design lamps and serveware for Guzzini, where he also consulted on design and company communications. He designed revolutionary furnishings for the kitchen at Boffi Cucine, producing modular kitchens, cabinets without traditional handles and more.

On 1stDibs, browse a collection of vintage Luigi Massoni vanity tables, sideboards, table lamps and more.

Vintage, new and antique vanity tables have forever felt like personal, intimate sanctuaries of sorts, designed to introduce a level of serenity that feels rare and welcome in our otherwise frenetic days. They’ve been variously known as dressing tables or makeup tables over the years, but no matter what we call them — and whether it's a sophisticated contemporary piece or an iconic vintage Luigi Massoni vanity — vanities have offered a special place for us to get ready for work, an early-morning appointment or lunch date or whatever lies ahead.

“Beauty routines, taking the time to protect what you have, a moment to accessorize, a moment to pause and slow down — these are all so important now as an antidote to our fast and hectic lives,” says Oona Bannon, creative director of Pinch Design in Clapham, South London. “Just thinking about a dressing table makes me feel calm.”

When decorative boxes would no longer suffice as repositories for cosmetics, fragrant oils and perfumes, dressing tables originated in France and England during the 17th century. Men who called the latter home used “shaving tables” — a proto-dressing table — for their grooming routines while women found in dressing tables an oasis for applying makeup, particularly as improvements upon vanity tables equipped them with mirrors and lighting. In the United States, as vanity tables became a seamless component of bedroom furniture, furniture makers working in Chippendale, Rococo and other styles were regularly commissioned to produce these popular items.

Vanity tables have evolved over the years, and while there is lots to love about the ornate carving and pronounced curvilinear forms of Victorian vanities, the clean lines that characterize mid-century modern vanities and the decorative flourishes associated with Art Deco vanities, the main elements of this furnishing are the same. All vanities are about as tall as a standard table with room for seating furniture, which tends to be a small bench, a stool or an armless chair. Many also have special organization features for makeup. Without a chair and a mirror, a vanity would resemble a dresser.

Nowadays, vanities are more than a place to do hair and makeup. They’re a platform to display beauty products and store makeup collections. Vanities are standard in bedrooms, particularly if you’re not lucky enough to have a spacious dressing room or walk-in closet for your dressing table. The better the lighting is in your bedroom or wherever you’ve positioned your vanity table — even if you’ve opted for a moody setting versus a bright one — the more you will benefit from having this personal place of respite to prepare for the day ahead.

Find your antique, new or vintage vanity table today on 1stDibs.