Over the centuries, moiré – a type of silk or viscose fabric with a distinct rippled, watermarked effect – has fallen in and out of favour, but looking at this year's new collections, it's coming back in a big way. The fabric's origins date back to the 1600s, when it was popular among the upper classes and royalty of Europe. Once a highly expensive (as it was only made from silk until relatively recently), it has long been associated with royalty, having been used to line the walls at Versailles and Hampton Court Palace, and it also famously decorated Queen Victoria herself in the form of a royal blue sash. More recently, ‘Debo’, the late Duchess of Devonshire – a perennial paragon of style – covered the walls of her study in green moiré, combining it with piles of books and chintzy sofas. In the wider world, however, moiré fell out of fashion in the 20th century, all of a sudden, it seems to have caught the design world's attention once more. Where it might once have been a staple in grand houses, however, it is now being used in strikingly modern schemes, which give a new lease of life to this once-traditional fabric.
At WOW!House this year – a brilliant source of design inspiration – not one, but two rooms were wrapped in moiré. Studio Ashby used a range of jewel tone moirés to decorate the walls and ceiling of their sitting room, designed in partnership with United in Design. Meanwhile in the Zimmer + Rohde Bedroom Suite, Tolu Adẹ̀kọ́ chose the brand's ‘Dimora’ moiré in an inky blue-black to add drama to the walls. “I'm particularly fond of using moiré fabric for wall coverings, upholstery, and drapery due to its unique texture,” Tolu explains. “Each piece of moiré brings an artisanal element to a project, and I appreciate how it creates a sense of movement and depth. When applied to walls or ceilings, it adds a mesmerising effect, enhancing the room's dynamics and making the space come alive.”
This is certainly the case and as such, moiré has been referred to as ‘watered silk’ for the way it mirrors the ripples of the sea, though its look has also been likened to wood grain. The process to create moiré is called ‘calendaring’ and involves rolling a moistened, woven fabric between specially patterned rollers under high temperature and pressure, which creates the crushed effect that leaves some parts glossy and others matte. “I have a real appreciation for the craftsmanship involved in its making,” says Zoffany's lead designer, Peter Gomez, who has included moiré wallcoverings in his collections for the brand this year. “There is an understated elegance to a traditionally made moiré; it’s uniquely adaptable, moving from fabric on the wall to curtains and upholstery. It’s a plain fabric with interest, and its organic design interacts with its surroundings, where light and shade bring out its softness and subtle movement. It is incredibly fluid, hence the name ‘watered silk’.”
It's not just at WOW!House – or even in interiors – that it's been making a splash. Designer and ceramicist Henry Holland married in a moiré suit (custom made by Sophie Ashby's husband, Charlie Casely-Hayford) and has recently renovated his bedroom, covering the walls in a pistachio green ‘Elsworthy’ moiré from his new collaboration with Harlequin. “I have always loved moiré as a fabric from my time working in fashion because it has such unique properties,” he explains. “It’s a texture rather than a print and the texture creates much more depth than a plain painted wall or woven cloth.”
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Gemma Moulton, founder of CC Moulton, has also incorporated moirés into her latest collection, following a Florentine revelation. As she explains, “it was a particularly stormy day last year in Florence and the flat I was staying at had a huge pair of peach silk moiré curtains which were going wild in the wind. The moiré took full effect and my childhood obsession with the fabric was re-ignited.” The obsession now, for Gemma, comes down to how well moiré displays colour, something that's evident in her new textures. “The fabric holds so many historical references, yet works so well in less traditional rich, bold colours,” she details, adding that “the way it knits modern and traditional together is a big part of the charm.” Peter agrees, and describes moiré as a fantastic colour carrier; “where some plains can feel one-dimensional, a moiré has a transformative quality that shifts and changes in light and aspect. It is one of the most elegant and refined plains to design with and always offers something new in every application. What’s interesting is how moiré is being adapted to different types of interiors. Once the confines of traditional designs, now we’re seeing moiré in contemporary settings, in bold colours too.”
How to go about incorporating this newly democratised fabric into your interiors, then? Tolu's advice is to start small and “start with a single accent wall or a statement piece of furniture to see how it transforms the space”. Peter would go bigger and line an entire room (should budget allow), “as it beautifully accentuates an interior's architecture.” In particular, he advises that in rooms with “recesses and alcoves, moiré serves to accentuate the shaping.” For Peter, it creates the perfect backdrop for artwork and its soft cocooning effect is ideally suited to a bedroom – which makes sense from a practical level as you wouldn't want to wrap a high traffic space in precious fabric and risk it being bashed and damaged.
Moiré adds enough drama in its subtle way but for those who like a truly theatrical space, follow in Henry and Studio Ashby's footsteps and use it as a backdrop for a riot of colours and patterns. “We have used the Elsworthy design as a backdrop to more of the patterned designs within the collection,” Henry notes, “pairing it with both embroideries and jacquard to create a sumptuous texturally layered room.” If it worked for the Duchess of Devonshire…
