10 minute read
High Fashion to Home Fashion
Badgley Mischka
HIGH FASHION to HOME FASHION
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More relaxed, comfort-first silhouettes, like this loose-fitting floral jacket and blouse from the Brock Collection, will make their way into home fashion, predicts Fashion Snoops’ home interiors editor Kristen Moonjian.
Fashion Snoops
Cynthia Rowley’s Fleur de Glee Writing Desk is covered in a finish that emulates one of her famous floral prints.
Hooker Furniture
The convergence of apparel and home furnishings encourages self-expression while creating an immersive lifestyle experience.
By: Kim D. Shaver
Consumers are hungry for a complete lifestyle experience and the ability to express themselves seamlessly from fashion to home. That’s why the worlds of fashion and interior design have never been so closely aligned. The pervasive impact of social media has reinforced the trend.
“In an era driven by what is ‘Instaworthy,’ fashion designers are finding ways to translate apparel design into home décor in order to meet consumer demand,” says Kristen Moonjian, home interiors editor for international trend forecaster Fashion Snoops. “We can thank social media for bringing home furnishings and fashion full circle as a reflection of the individual.”
The result? More and more collaboration between the fashion world and home furnishings world—from the mass market to the high end, and from full-line traditional furniture sources to online retailers.
BRAND IMMERSION
When fashion brands offer home furnishings, it gives them a platform to create a complete, immersive lifestyle experience with more gravitas and timelessness. “Entering the home market strengthens the brand’s identity and forms a full point of view,” says Moonjian. One fashion brand that’s turned to designing furnishings is celebrity evening wear and wedding dress design duo Badgley Mischka.
Celebrity evening wear design duo Badgley Mischka has bridged the line between apparel and interiors with its line of home furnishings.
“We’ve always considered home to be an extension of what you wear, and we love that it can be an investment piece much like a wonderful gown,” says James Mischka, founding partner of Badgley Mischka. “Of course, furniture has to be far more durable than clothing—we make sure every piece is dog-proof and family-proof, which we can’t do with clothing!”
How similar are fashion and home-fashion design? Mischka says he finds the design process for furniture to be “remarkably like designing fashion in so many ways. You are creating an environment, either a micro- or macro-factor.”
RUNWAY TO RESIDENTIAL
One of the most recent collaborations between the worlds of fashion and furniture is Universal Furniture’s new 50-piece whole-home group with Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr. It’s been said the word “home” evokes more positive emotion than any other besides “love,” and Kerr leaned into the idea with the name she gave the collection: Love. Joy. Bliss.
Style-setter Miranda Kerr is bringing her years of experience in fashion and on the runway to her new collection with Universal Furniture.
After two decades in the fashion spotlight, Kerr transitioned from the runway to becoming a style icon, businesswoman and mother. Renowned for her impeccable style and setting the agenda for upcoming fashion trends, she is a social media icon with more than 25 million combined followers across social media.
Echoing the interior aesthetic in the two homes the Australian supermodel shares with her husband and young children, the Love. Joy. Bliss. collection embraces clean geometric lines and muted palettes, with pops of blush pink and gold, along with luxe finishes and plush fabrics. “My intention when creating this home collection was to have pieces that are not only beautiful and functional, but also have an element of uplifting, loving energy,” explains Kerr. “For me, home is my sanctuary, and that’s why I am passionate about this collection. Not only do the pieces look beautiful in the home, they also promote a positive energy, and balance function with style.”
The Love. Joy. Bliss. whole-home collection from Miranda Kerr and Universal Furniture offers timeless pieces with feminine influences.
As a mother of three children, Kerr was intentional about using performance fabrics on all the upholstery so “each piece can be loved and lived in.” Her favorite piece in the collection? “I love the combination of the soft pastel tone and soft gold finished base on the Runway Console, and how the clean lines are juxtaposed by the three-dimensional front panels. Simple, stylish and practical, it hides away our family board games and is the perfect piece to display family photos and fresh flowers,” she says.
HOME + FASHION ON FILM
To view the movie trailer, visit vimeo.com/337348270
The link between fashion and interiors is intriguing people outside its industries. Interior Motives, a documentary from filmmaker Natalie Shirinian, provides fascinating insights into the cross-over between the two worlds. Making its debut this summer at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, the film examines the links between the two fields and their shared connections with fabrics, textiles and finishes. Interviewing fashion designers, interior designers and brands that have crossed over, director Shirinian characterizes the shared bond between fashion and interiors as being about creating a lifestyle and seeing a brand in more than just one way. Explored in the film, it leaves you asking what fashion can learn from interiors and what interiors can learn from fashion.
THE FASHION-FORWARD HOME
Among the most noteworthy collaborations between a fashion designer and furniture brand is the Cynthia Rowley for Hooker Furniture line. Launched to retail floors in 2016, the design partnership united a leading contemporary fashion designer and one of the most revered brands in home furnishings.
Rowley’s global lifestyle brand includes ready-towear, accessories, fitness, surf and swimwear and home goods. Known for her eye-catching prints and pretty, flirty style, she incorporated her signature design aesthetic into surface patterns and finishes in her line of occasional, accent and office furniture with Hooker Casegoods. “Fashion and style reach beyond clothes…It’s the art of living,” says Rowley.
MENSWEAR-INSPIRED FURNISHINGS
The influence of fashion-inspired home furnishings also extends to online retailers. In September, direct-to-consumer home furnishings platform The Inside launched a furniture collection inspired by timeless menswear fashion motifs. Reflecting styles across the 20th Century, the collection was inspired by looks spanning pinstripe suits to vintage ties. “From the dapper suiting of the Art Deco age to sleek stylings of 1990s Versace, the evolution of menswear has remained a decades-long touchstone for interior design,” says Christiane Lemieux, co-founder and CEO of The Inside.
Online retailer The Inside features a home collection inspired by timeless menswear fashion motifs.
FASHION’S INFLUENCE
When asked the single greatest way fashion influences the line of iconic, high-end brand Century Furniture, creative director Lynn Wright didn’t hesitate. “Self-expressionism,” she says. “As in fashion, Century’s product line offers an infinite variety of styles, finish treatments, hardware and fabric applications. Finding the style that lets a customer express how they see themselves is just as important in the furnishings they select as it is in the clothing they choose to wear.”
“Layering patterns and textures in home furnishings is very much like putting together a stylish wardrobe,” says Wright. “Florals paired with plaids, interesting textural tweeds, boucles and velvets create a fun mix of fabrics that add warmth and color to a room. A burnished leather chair complements a room as much as a well-loved classic handbag complements a favorite suit or dress.”
HAUTE COUTURE FOR HOME
Luxury furniture brand Marge Carson considers itself “haute couture for home.” “For us, it has to be luxurious—we strive to add uniquely-designed fabrics and trims that are intriguing to the eye,” says Laurie Reed, creative director. “Finishing and leafing goes along with that, so the customization and embellishment that we can do on our pieces is almost endless and allows for a lot of creative self-expression in the home…which we believe is what haute couture is all about—luxurious, artistic self-expression.”
Marge Carson recently launched its Custom Couture Upholstery Collection which gives designers and consumers the ability to select from several arm, base and pillow styles—as well as from a multitude of trims, fabrics and finishes.
Marge Carson draws inspiration for pillow fabrics and a new variegated, leafed glass finish called Bullion from this intricately bejeweled, shimmering, goddess-like look from Zuhair Murad’s Spring 2020 couture collection at New York Fashion Week.
“Taking a cue from fashion apparel, our couture trims are following a more modern vibe with an edgier attitude,” says Reed. “Tassels and brushed fringes are sharing the spotlight with fashionable tapes, cords and trims.”
NEW YORK FASHION WEEK HIGHLIGHTS
Look for feel-good fashion in the form of bright colors, exuberance, 80s nostalgia and Americana to make its way into home fashion.
Meet the re-imagined power suit from Badgley Mischka in bright Caribbean florals.
Badgley Mischka
A painterly floral in shades of pineapple and plum on a performance fabric from Badgley Mischka melds an oh-so-proper dress with an unexpected asymmetric hemline, stirring the imagination for furniture and home textile applications.
Badgley Mischka
New York, New York: Apparel collections on the runways of Spring 2020 New York Fashion Week (NYFW) earlier this fall were beaming with joy and optimism and looks intentionally designed to evoke emotions. Positivity, individuality and diversity were expressed through trends such as bright colors and prints, 80s nostalgia, sustainability and Americana, according to Melissa Moylan, vice president and creative director for Womenswear at global trend forecasting agency Fashion Snoops.
Jeremy Scott’s tinsel skirt and halter top with fringe is an updated version of 80’s glam and nostalgia making its way into fashion and the home as people look towards the comfort of the past, says Fashion Snoops’ home interiors editor Kristen Moonjian.
Fashion Snoops
“Romanticized silhouettes and elaborate florals of the Rococo decorative style were prevalent on the NYFW runways and are sure to make their way into the home,” says Fashion Snoops’ home interiors editor Kristen Moonjian. Voluminous silhouettes, metallic threads, over-the-top fringe and a plethora of ruffles also caught her attention this season.
The Brock Collection’s floral, smocked, loosefitting jacket and blouse captures this trend of romantic, relaxed silhouettes. As designers such as Brock play with proportion and mixing oversized and structured silhouettes, these more relaxed, comfort-first silhouettes will make their way into home fashion, Moonjian predicts.
Alexandar Wang’s flag sweatshirt and tasseled cowboy pants show an updated Americana influence on its way to home interiors, says Fashion Snoops’ home interiors editor Kristen Moonjian. “I expect to see tassels and exaggerated fringe incorporated into décor pieces.”
Fashion Snoops
Most notable at this year’s shows was an intrinsic emotional appeal in new fashion apparel. “Clothes were designed to make us feel something,” says Moylan. “There was a new sensual aesthetic that borrows from lounge and intimate apparel, and some designers cited positivity as a design inspiration.”
With vibrant hues and 80s-influnced palettes, color provided a point of inspiration for many. “We always love floral patterns, and the Marc Jacobs floral pantsuit in shades of optimistic and confident green with a romantic, Asian flair, caught our eye for upholstery fabric inspiration,” says Lynn Wright, creative director of Century Furniture.
James Mischka, founding partner of famous celebrity fashion designer duo Badgley Mischka, says, “We think the exuberance and color from the new apparel collections will influence furniture and home décor in general. Prints and brights will be key!”
Khaite’s red suede fringed cowboy jacket, mixed with feminine floral pants, gives a sense of rugged luxury and adventurous femininity and exemplifies the tassels and exaggerated fringe treatments expected to make their way into home décor.
Fashion Snoops
