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Inside Emma Chamberlain's Home: Bags, Heirlooms, a Drum Kit, and a Mannequin Named Emma

Vogue · ▶ 14:43 · 10 min read
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Overview

In this Vogue home tour, Emma Chamberlain walks through their Los Angeles house and shows the objects they've collected over the years. The tour isn't about expensive pieces. The things Chamberlain lingers on are ones with a story behind them: bags and shoes worn until they're falling apart, paintings by family members, a childhood stuffed animal, and a few vintage oddities chosen because they're both funny and good-looking. Along the way, Chamberlain explains what each object means to them, and sometimes why they don't like one.

10 min read
0:41

Two bags worn more than any others

The tour starts with two bags that Chamberlain says they have worn more than any others they've ever owned. They say they're "emotionally attached" to both, because the bags have gone everywhere with them. The wear shows: the stiff leather on one has started cracking.

The first is a military-green Comme des Garçons tote. Chamberlain stumbles over the brand name and jokes about getting roasted for mispronouncing it on Vogue. What they value is the color. They describe the green as working like a neutral that "breathes life into every outfit" they pair it with.

The second, a black Prada bag, was an impulse buy. Chamberlain arrived early for a flight out of Charles de Gaulle in Paris, was bored, and walked into the Prada store. They're emphatic that this one won't become a family heirloom. Their future children won't inherit it, and they want to be buried with it: "This is mommy's forever."

1:39

The Tabis that are falling apart

The buried-with-me theme continues with Chamberlain's favorite shoes, a pair of Tabis they say they wear almost every day. They think they bought them in Paris and wore them daily from then on. Chamberlain recently wore them in San Francisco while walking around 20,000 steps a day and came away with bad shin splints, but they still call the shoes amazing and say they go with everything.

The shoes are in bad shape, and Chamberlain admits they won't last much longer. Imagining something happening to them is what Chamberlain's therapist would call "scary thoughts," they joke. They do own a backup pair, but it isn't broken in yet and they don't like it as much. They haven't worked out a solution: "I need to figure something out."

2:46

A gallery wall with a self-portrait they hate

On the gallery wall hangs a painted self-portrait. Chamberlain explains it was made for a video shoot where the plan was to have a portrait of them on the wall. The shoot barely used it, but it had already been framed, so they hung it up.

They're blunt about it: "I absolutely hate it." They say they need to go to a gallery or go antique shopping to find something to replace it. Looking more closely, they soften a little. They like the eyes, which they call "fantastic," but think the lips were "messed up."

They're much happier with a carved wooden piece from an antique store in Los Angeles: a sculpted rear end, complete with what Chamberlain calls a back dimple. They wonder whether that detail was intentional or a defect in the wood. Turning it over, they find nude portraits of women on the back and tell the crew they can blur it. For Chamberlain the piece is a good example of "balancing humor and aesthetic." They appreciate that the artist decided to fully commit to something silly.

Grandma's paintings and the idea of inherited taste

Two paintings on the wall were painted by Chamberlain's grandmother and were recently passed down to them. Chamberlain notes that they don't have many heirlooms that go back multiple generations, which makes these meaningful.

What they like most is that they would probably have picked these paintings out of a group on their own, because they match their style. That leads them to wonder whether "taste and art is a little bit genetic." They joke about trying to reach their grandmother with a Ouija board to tell her they're kind of similar, and promise to report back in a Vogue.

The drum kit that took over a childhood bedroom

Chamberlain's drum kit has its own backstory. A few years ago they went home to visit their dad, who makes music, and found an identical kit set up in their childhood bedroom, blocking the path to the bed. Their dad told them they had to sit down and try it.

Because they had to walk around the kit every time they went to bed, they ended up sitting at it, and then "kind of became obsessed." They say they've been practicing and are improving.

6:03

The kitchen: useful and cute

In the kitchen, Chamberlain shows a vintage find they call one of their favorites of all time. They believe it came from a flea market, though it may have been an antique shop. They mention they've probably gone antique shopping with everyone in their life: best friends, their mom, and every person they've dated.

The object they focus on most is a sponge with its own little house, with different designs on each side. Chamberlain admits they've never actually chosen which side to display, but they could. For them it captures their decorating philosophy: "Useful and cute. That is the recipe to fabulous home decor."

The "body double" named Emma

The house also has a mannequin dressed in Thom Browne, which Chamberlain calls their body double. The mannequin "told" them she wants to be called Emma, which they find confusing, and they say they're still working that out.

The mannequin was bought as a prop for their podcast set. Chamberlain's idea was to make the room look mirrored, with a mannequin turned around, dressed up, and looking somewhat like them. They also give a more personal reason: recording a podcast alone every day gets lonely and feels like "an echo chamber," so having someone in the room seemed appealing.

Archival pieces: a hand-painted Gucci shirt and fake-need glasses

Chamberlain calls the next items "real archival pieces." The first is the Gucci shirt they painted themselves at about 16, when they had just started their YouTube channel. Painting it was one of their first videos. A Gucci shirt cost $450, which they couldn't afford, so they made their own. They think they "kind of nailed it" and feel like they should start wearing it, but it's become too special, and they're afraid they'd spill something on it. They also note that reproducing the logo was a bit of a legal risk and ask Gucci not to hold it against them, since their intentions were good.

The second is a pair of pink Juicy Couture glasses. At around 8 years old, Chamberlain was jealous of classmates who wore glasses and thought they were cool. They told their parents they were having trouble seeing, then lied through the eye test. Insurance covered the glasses, but their vision was too good to actually wear them. Chamberlain says the glasses kind of work for them now, because their eyesight has since declined. Looking back, they conclude they "had good taste."

Dad's landscapes all over the house

Chamberlain says their dad's paintings are everywhere in the house, probably about 20 of them. He paints mostly landscapes, many of them on location, so many of the paintings show the place Chamberlain grew up or places the two of them have traveled together.

For Chamberlain, the value is layered. The paintings are by their dad, they're in a familiar style, and they show places tied to special memories. They want more and plan to talk to him about it, even though they're short on wall space: "I'm going to find a way because I want more."

The Napoleon Dynamite room

Chamberlain describes the next room as a TV room, office, and "random room" without an official name yet. Its centerpiece is a nod to their favorite movie, Napoleon Dynamite. They say the film "shaped" them, that they've watched it hundreds of times, and that as a kid it was the only DVD they'd let their dad put in the player.

They list what they took from it. The first lesson is "just go for it," which they insist is different from "just do it." They also learned the right amount of cheese to put on microwaved nachos, and to believe in love.

Biggie Big, the childhood stuffed animal

In the bedroom, Chamberlain introduces Biggie Big, a stuffed companion they call their best friend since about age four. As a kid, they sucked their thumb while rubbing his ear against their face. They say that's cute in a child but awkward to admit as an adult, especially since they kept doing it until age 10. They're 25 now, which makes it "15 years clean."

Biggie Big usually lives in a box in the garage, because Chamberlain would be devastated if anything happened to him. They brought him out for the shoot so everyone could see him "in all of his glory." By the end they're considering not putting him back in the garage this time.

Nearby is a likeness of Chamberlain that they're clearly proud of. They say the dark circles and the nose feel accurate. They joke that they're prouder of it than of about 90 percent of their career or the nice things they've done for others, and that it will be hard to top.

Cookbooks before bed

The tour ends with a habit rather than an object. Chamberlain says they've spent this year trying to "chill" and reset their brain after 10 to 15 years of consuming a lot of internet. Nighttime has been the hardest part, because that's when they're tired after a long day and most tempted to scroll. They told themselves they'd stop doing that this year.

Their replacement is reading cookbooks before bed, which they say they're "into." They add that Biggie Big will probably get into it too, now that he's out of the garage.

Chamberlain closes by sending the crew away. "Emma downstairs," the mannequin, has supposedly promised to make dinner as a big surprise. Chamberlain doesn't know what that means yet, and tells viewers they won't get to find out.

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