It may have seemed unlikely that 60-year-old wallpaper scraps would ever see the light of day again, but the reality of some archival Fromental cuttings could not be more different. These vintage clippings graced the most exclusive red carpet of the season via Demi Moore's floral gown designed by London-based designer Harris Reed.
In a departure from previous monochrome palettes, Reed planned to find a way to work with color and print for his AW24 season, and a chance meeting with luxury wallcovering experts Fromental led to a sustainable solution: repurposing and piecing together the brand's archive silk wallpapers as fabrics.
'To be able to take old wallpaper and soak it and repurpose it onto these pieces has been such a treat, to play with something so delicate and fragile and give it a second life,' Reed says via Instagram.
'To make almost life-size paper dolls, a flower in perfect bloom as its decays fully wrapped in thorns. This moment isn’t about me it’s about all the incredible women around me who push this now not-so-little boy’s dream into realities, to let me create these pieces and fantasies.'
It's no secret that some of 2024's most influential design trends are influenced by fashion trends – from quiet luxury to the coquette aesthetic. However, Reed's revival of vintage wallpaper brings light to a new, more sustainable connection between the fashion and interior industries.
As the designer explains, the process gives pre-cut pieces a 'second life', turning them into fabrics with a newfound purpose beyond our walls. But what exactly does the process involve?
'Paper backings were sponged away from precious single remaining vintage panels of hand-painted and embroidered wallpaper, some of which had over four hundred hours of embroidery work, showing a couture level of craftsmanship,' comments a spokesperson from Fromental.
'This tactile process of working with limited existing panels, pattern cutting, and piecing back together to create something entirely new made the concept of paper dolls literal – like a child cutting up leftover wallpaper to make their doll a new dress.'
'I know to a lot of people my life might look fully calculated, and that I know exactly what I’m doing, but I’m just making it up every day,' adds Harris Reed (who joined Moore in a gown he designed using the process) adds. [Thank you] to my Fromental family and for the endless love and day and night painting of petals and allowing me to raid your wallpaper archive.'
Does this signal the start of a new fashion and interiors movement? After an exciting launch at the Met Gala, we can only assume so.
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