A Fabric Story

By Haskell Harris | May 4, 2009 | Design

I am consistently obsessed with the history of things, particularly when it comes to design.

Which is exactly why I wanted to share this  style anecdote. 

A while back, I visited the very down-to-earth CEO of design powerhouse Dessin Fournir, Chuck Comeau.

He walked me through the various offices and workspaces for the Dessin Fournir brand (I met the welders at Palmer Hargrave Lighting, pored over drawings for new furniture in the Kerry Joyce line, shopped around at the retail store C.S. Post, etc.).

But my favorite stop was Classic Cloth.

In the warehouse, they had mile after mile of beautiful fabric bolts stacked all the way to the ceiling. Talk about heaven!

Then Chuck introduced me to the fabric designers who create all that gorgeous yardage day in and day out. 

One of their newest styles was inspired by a pillowcase from the Petit Trianon on the grounds of Versailles.

Chuck bought a remnant at Christie's of the original (a rustic, flax colored linen embroidered with yellow silk thread in a delicate floral). 

As I stood there looking at it, the idea that Marie Antoinette (love her or hate her) might have slept on it was completely surreal.

I only got to see one finished colorway of the pillowcase-inspired collection since the designers were still in production for the other colorways at the time. I believe it was a dark-chocolate linen. Very pretty.

The other day, though, I came across a photograph of the now complete "Marie Antoinette" collection (pictured below), and I love the hues they chose. The tone-on-tone neutrals (soft pink, pale cocoa powder, silvery gray) are perfectly subtle, but the intricate embroidery makes it fancy—like the Dauphine herself.