100 years of textiles at Lelièvre

photo: Lelièvre

The  design department at Lelièvre has devised a knock-out tribute to the company's 100 years of designing and manufacturing beautiful fabric. 

photo: Lelièvre

What you find before you is simply a beautiful design – sophisticated and terribly clever but somehow nonchalant.  

Century is a contemporary design inspired by some of the best loved patterns in the Lelièvre collections. The oldest design components, in stylistic terms, appear in the deepest tones and gradually become more recent as the background of shaded satin becomes lighter in color. The sun rises on a new century!

photo: St Tyl

  

Take a closer look and you will find quite a bit a French textile history in this medley of flocked motifs: Louis XIV, Charles X, 1930s...a textile lover's delight.

photo: St Tyl

And yet, like the best of Lelièvre's very strong contemporary current, there's something truly fresh here, a light touch. 

photo: St Tyl

Because the best textile companies know how to keep their heritage alive while living fully
in l'air du temps.

Jean-Paul Gaultier: moods for Maison

all photos from Lelièvre

Vagabond

I always think of the style Jean-Paul Gaultier as a gust of good humor playing at the masterful cuts and seams of his Couture collections. The designer never fails to give a brisk shake to the wrinkles of propriety by using a mischievous print or by converting what is rock, kitsch, and everyday into high fashion. Yet he never stints on rigor and traditional craft. By teaming up with the design department at Lelièvre,  his inventive joie de vivre has recently found its way into the home.

But there's another side to that effervescence, as you can see. I've selected 5 new fabrics from Jean-Paul Gaultier's most recent collection, Le Défilé, and what comes across is a romantic mood even with the state of the art technology that is evident behind these designs.

The relaxed linen digital print above called Vagabond set the tone for me with its flowing composition and roaming, soft focus photographic scene. (The boldest items of the collection, I'll leave you to see on the at the end of this post.)

Casino

Lace is a constant in Gaultier's world and this clever Jacquard stand-in, with all its delicate appearance, is actually resistant enough to be used as upholstery.

Coquin

A small graphic motif with clean lines and iridescent weft.

Spacial

Large scale irregular dot design with a dynamic painterly spirit on an innovative and resistant 

new cotton material that imitates suede -

in deep,warm colorways.

Mousaillon

Sweetly nostalgic with humor creeping in -

there's the ubiquitous striped Gaultier marinère on the putti and romantic figures here. What seems to be a classic arrangement of medallions is in fact a woven compostion of six different scenes which can be isolated and cut out to use creatively in an original decor.

***

And now, you can follow up on the boldest, most colorful side of the collection at the 

 JPG Maison site.

Light as air

photo Lelièvre 

Kenzo isn't alone to have its textile head in the clouds lately. A glance outside was always good for inspiration and now this cloth makes the perfect reverie for a

window with or without a view. 

Lelièvre has designed Cirrus, a wide width textured sheer in grey... 

or blue. 

photo Atelier de Soierie

In Lyon, the Atelier de Soierie proposes cumulus and stratus scarves inspired by two artists. 

Ruisdael...

photo Atelier de Soierie

and  Boudin.