Spring 2007 Trend Report
Both Sides Now
The great outdoors has been welcome in our homes for
so long that its presence is natural to the point of being
imperceptible. For years now, designers have been
bringing elements of the garden indoors, incorporating
everything from rusted park benches and lichen-covered urns to antique reclaimed brick to add rich texture
to rooms. In fact, such objects have become some
of the hottest antiques, spurring the garden furniture
industry to produce high-end reproductions.
In a more recent
twist, the patio has
become an alter ego
outdoor living room
as homeowners
seek to seamlessly
expand their inside
rooms to the outside.
One of the crucial
factors propelling this
trend is the technological innovation in
performance textiles.
Where once there
were only the most
basic styles in the
coarsest fabrics, the
last five years have ushered in an explosion of sophisticated and plush patterns that mesh with homeowners’
interiors.
Reinventing the category, Chella’s Luxury Performance
Textiles™ are as likely to be elegantly gracing rooms
as to be adding material comfort to outdoor spaces.
Not surprising, since Chella’s designer Scott Bodenner
-- whose specialty is residential textiles -- brings his
unique interior perspective to outdoor fabrics and in the
process, erases the line
between them. When interior designers saw Chella’s
luxurious Montecatini –
the first chenille solid in the
outdoor fabric market – it
didn’t take long for them to
deem it the perfect choice
for upholstered furniture,
especially in high-traffic
areas like great rooms and
kitchens. Montecatini, now available in twenty-one
eye-popping colors, is Chella’s top seller.
If residential clients had reservations in the past about
using outdoor textiles in their homes, the sheer abundance of luxury outdoor fabrics today renders that a
moot point. Chuck Chewning, co-founder of CCID, an
Atlanta-based design firm specializing in the high-end
international hospitality market, has used Chella textiles
for many five-star hotels and resorts. While visiting the
home of a client, an owner of luxury hotels in the Bahamas, Chewning recognized a Chella textured chenille on
a lounge chair and ottoman in the master suite. Upon
asking the hostess: “Did you know this is an outdoor
fabric?” her surprise matched her enthusiasm: “Oh, it
is? I don’t care, I just loved the pattern.”
Chella’s latest offerings further the movement toward
universal acceptance of outdoor textiles for interiors. In
Chella’s hands, matelasse -- a weave whose long association with bedding may render it the quintessential
interior fabric – becomes a
performance textile whose
seeming delicacy belies
its ability to withstand
the rigors of outdoor living. Undoubtedly Spiral
Matelasse, in its range of
fashion-forward colors, will
rest on as many beds as
pool chaise lounges.
Spring 2007 Trend Report Page 1
Contact: Anne Martin 917.817.7557
anne@martinmarcom.com
www.chellatextiles.com
Spring 2007 Trend Report
Worry-Free Luxury
Luxury is defined as inessential but conducive to pleasure or comfort in life. In today’s home, there’s no shortage of luxury items. All hold the promise of pleasure
but for many, the specter of ruin isn’t always far behind.
Hardly a comfort. Our live-for-the-day era encourages
us to use the good dishes, and if a few chip or break
along the way, so be it.
For many this is easier said than done; indeed such
vexing matters concern even the super-rich. A tour of
New York’s historic Rockefeller estate Kykuit includes a
visit to the butler’s pantry where a sink made of Monel,
a most expensive metal, was allegedly chosen in 1901
because its softer
surface was said
to be kinder to fine
china service.
When it comes
to home textiles,
certain choices
beg the question
that Jim Swan,
a Beverly Hillsbased interior
designer, would
have clients ask
themselves: “Do I
want to be a slave
to this fabric?”
For many who
love the serenity
of an all-white decor, it may mean imposing the dreaded
“no red wine” rule in the house. For families with kids
and pets, it can mean a matter of finding a compromise
between the sumptuous fabrics they crave and more
enduring styles made to handle the everyday assaults of
life in a bustling household.
Of course, it can be done with incredible panache. New
York-based interior designer Alex Papachristidis remembers well his first exposure to outdoor fabrics used
inside. It was at the apartment of fashion design legend
Bill Blass. “All the sofas were upholstered in a white outdoor fabric – he had dogs – and against the backdrop of
his objects and antiques, it was so chic.”
smartly-edited
selection of solution-dyed acrylics
includes several
irresistible variations, such as
Aretha in Sand
Dune/Cream,
Click Track in
Sand Stone and
Fret Work in
Alabaster. A client
of Chewning’s
chose an off-white
Chella chenille for
outdoor furniture that graces
sweeping wraparound terraces
in Athens, Greece, and there are no worries – despite
intense sun, severely polluted air, and plans for frequent
entertaining.
Moreover, in the luxury hotel industry, the trend is for
rooms with a residential feel that leave guests with the
impression that they are the first. Banished are camouflaging patterns and in their place are milky whites,
creams and transparent fabrics. Chewning points to the
near ubiquity of white linen duvet covers. “The guest
perception must be that the rooms are pristine and
well-cared for.” White upholstery in guest rooms, on the
other hand, would seem to surely court disaster. And
while the properties of Chella’s logic-defying fabrics
are legendary, so ingrained is white’s impracticality that
the Maui Hilton’s Quality Assurance team subjected an
optic white Chella design to suntan oil, lipstick, red wine
and intense sun before ordering thousands of yards for
hundreds of winged-back chairs. Having passed the
test with flying colors, the
fabric is enjoying its day in
the Maui sun.
“Outdoor fabrics have become so sophisticated and
beautiful, that practicality is
no longer a compromise.
It can look divinely chic,”
adds Papachristidis.
White is no longer off limits – especially since Chella’s
Spring 2007 Trend Report Page 2
Contact: Anne Martin 917.817.7557
anne@martinmarcom.com
www.chellatextiles.com
Spring 2007 Trend Report
Channeling Coco
When it comes to inspiration in home and fashion
design, it’s a two-way street. So it’s not surprising that
Chella’s designer Scott Bodenner haunts the boutiques
of Bergdorf Goodman to keep abreast of what’s happening in fashion. Indeed, Chella’s plush Montecatini was modeled after velvet clothing that caught the
designer’s eye on such a jaunt. This season, Bodenner
pays homage to fashion icon Coco Chanel with Coco
Tweed.
blared the song “Young Folks” with lyrics that put it
bluntly: “And we don’t care about the old folks, talkin’
‘bout the old style.” Likewise, Bodenner keeps it young
and fresh with his palette of lively brights, rich dark
tones and raffia, a creamy neutral. Says Bodenner, “The
pattern’s geometry is simple so it easily moves from
classic to modern.”
Chanel is credited with bringing tweed to high fashion in
the late 1920s and it has remained part of the language
of couture ever since. The signature wool boucle tweed
suits, known for their impeccable fit, are as comfortable as they are elegant. “Ask any woman who wears
Chanel tweed and she’ll tell you it wears like iron,” says
Bodenner. Its inherent beauty and brawn inspired
Bodenner to reinterpret Chanel tweed for luxury performance fabrics.
But let’s be clear: this isn’t your grandmother’s Chanel.
At the spring 2007 show Karl Lagerfeld paired classic
Chanel tweed jackets with sparkling sequined hot pants
and in an obvious break from its more mature clientele,
Spring 2007 Trend Report Page 3
Contact: Anne Martin 917.817.7557
anne@martinmarcom.com
www.chellatextiles.com
Spring 2007 Trend Report
Silver Lining
“Mesmerizing luminosity” was what fashion designer
Marc Jacobs said he was aiming to convey with his
spring 2007 collection of enchanting neutral silhouettes
punctuated with metallics. It was a theme throughout
the shows, where metallics shined softly and
looked at turns worn
and broken-in. The
fashion house Burberry,
in maintaining its tradition of fabric innovation
(they patented gabardine) showed high-tech
brocade trench coats
woven from aluminum
and silk in its Burberry Prosum collection.
Aluminum may conjure
foil and cans, but the
lightweight, silverywhite metal is the perfect choice to convey
in a garment what Burberry designer Christopher Bailey
called “a lightness of spirit.”
When the first commercial process for producing
aluminum was created
in 1854, the metal was
more valuable than
gold. Now humble
aluminum’s former
luster is poised to be
restored as designers across disciplines
explore a range of new
applications. On the
home front, there’s
been a boom in highfashion aluminum
furniture designs, most
notably from celebrated
architect Philippe Starck and Ford GT designer Camilo
Pard. And in the world of textiles, Chella launched the
first metallic sheers coated with aluminum plasma.
in fact developed for a heat reflective film to be used in
building projects.
The first to incorporate the metal into outdoor textiles,
Chella’s decision to embrace aluminum was a matter
of pure aesthetics. “It looks cool,” was designer Scott
Bodenner’s simple explanation; he then chose Glissando sheers for his own bedroom. “They have all the
glamour of a true metallic but without the overdone
flash.”
The collection of silvery metallic sheers includes Impresario, a solid; Arpeggio, a stripe; Staccato, a small
modern pattern; Grace Note, a large modern stripe
and Glissando, which incorporates a signature Chella
floral design.
Aluminum is exceedingly strong, lightweight and malleable and -- as a plasma coating -- so fine that the fabric hand remains supple and pliable. The process was
Spring 2007 Trend Report Page 4
Contact: Anne Martin 917.817.7557
anne@martinmarcom.com
www.chellatextiles.com