High fashion comes home

Last year, as our homes ‘grew’ — the four walls accommodating an office, a classroom, a gym, a restaurant, a spa, a playground and more, to fit our needs during the pandemic — so did our desire to showcase it in the best light possible. Clothing purchases took a back seat as people browsed table settings, bedlinen, furniture and cutlery, often on the very same fashion websites. Think Gucci’s eclectic ‘Souvenir from Rome’ range, Missoni’s ‘Modern Iconic’, or Fendi’s Boogie series of tables that brought in geometry and pops of colour. As British fashion designer-turned-interiors’ go-to man, Matthew Williamson told The Hindu Weekend, “Choosing furniture [or textiles] for a room is akin to putting an outfit together; the accessories are like the jewellery. There is so much capacity for innovation when you look at the gap between fashion and interior design.” Back home, fashion designers have long embraced the home. And 2020 saw even more joining the likes of veterans such as Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Ritu Kumar. For example, Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna stepped up to the plate with a collaboration with luxury furnishings brand, Tapestry. Oraan, their line of upholstery fabrics, uses “subtle metallics for chic glamour, which is our forte and articulates our design sensibility”, says Gandhi.