Haute Couture Linen

Parisian design team Côme Touvay and Liv Mathilde Méchin have developed a new haute couture collection for the Belgian textile brand Verilin. On display at Maison & Objet this month, Guermantes is a collection of table and bed linen, throws, cushions and fabrics with touches of gold, satin and cashmere. have previously designed a series of household linen for Rochas Paris and worked on projects for trend guru Li Edelkoort.

This is textile designer Touvay and stylist Méchin's fourth collaboration with Verilin and it sets itself a part with the use of supple, refined fabrics with the delicate shine of satin. “We found our inspiration in the luxury and glamour of the 1930s and 40s, in the boudoirs and nightclubs of the time, and in haute couture,” explains Touvay. “This collection is full of contrasts that embrace each other: city and nature, past and present, determined modernity and timeless classics. In any case, each design is miles away from the generally rustic appearance of linen.”

The collection can be divided into three main lines: one combining black, distressed gold and antiqued silver, a range of natural, white linen that plays with texture and design, and a third series that seamlessly weaves black and white together into timeless but distinctly contemporary patterns.

For Touvay and Méchin, linen is not just a versatile fabric; it is also an environmentally friendly fabric. “We’re not designers with a ‘throw-away’ mentality. Linen is made to last for years,” explains Touvay. “That is why the series of collections we have designed can also be combined with each other. We love the idea that our creations will be passed on from one generation to the next and will come to form a beautiful part of family history.”

However, as Verilin’s managing director Lauriane Vercruysse explains, linen is still struggling with an undeserved image problem. Its popularity as a material has diminished significantly over the last few decades due to the belief that it is too old-fashioned, too heavy, too coarse and too complicated to look after. “At Verilin we’re trying to get beyond this and come up with luxury home wear collections that prove all these clichés wrong,” comments Vercruysse. “Linen is a fantastic material with infinite benefits. It is warm in winter and cool in summer, it absorbs moisture and lets the air through, it is easy to care for, authentic and it is produced in an environmentally friendly way.” Verilin hopes to transform linen’s reputation through innovation by enhancing the innate qualities of the material. By adding refined materials such as silk, mohair and cashmere, Verilin create linen-based fabrics with an extremely luxurious look and feel, but which are as easy to care for as cotton. Ideal for superyachts, then.

Related Links:
Verilin - company profile | company website

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