Curtain Call
THE MECHANICS OF MOUNTING A CURTAIN ARE NO longer concealed behind swaths of cloth. In today’s window treatments, hardware-rods, rings, finials, and tiebacks-play an important part in defining both composition and character. The right hardware gives a window expression, much like eyebrows add animation to a face.
FURNISHINGS
CALVIN KLEIN HEADS FOR HOME
WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY REPORTED THIS SUMmer that the apparel industry has come to the reluctant conclusion that many women are more interested in their nests than their closets. Not to be denied, fashion whiz Calvin Klein enters a new realm this fall with his Home Collection. For bed, bath, and table, the new venture includes sheets, duvet covers, pillows, throws, towels, flatware, din-nerware, and glassware. (Furniture, lighting, textiles, and home fragrances are planned for future phases.)
’Hie collection has die earmarks of Calvin Klein’s ready-to-wear: gifted understatement, precise construction, and studied informality. His palette of stylish neutrals-silvery blues, creamy parchment, hemp, taupe, indigo, and cool, crisp white-work for mix-and-match ensembles as well as for severely contemporary, monochromatic schemes.
In couture, the “hand” of the textiles, which refers to the texture, the drape, and the feel of a fabric, is paramount. Thai same emphasis shows up in Klein’s new bedding. There are sheets of snowy-white cotton or Italian linen; throws of wool-lace and cashmere; and bed sheers of silk, thrown casually across the bed like a scarf tossed insou-ciantly over a shoulder (but at $ 1,500 a pop, can one maintain aplomb?).
Ralph Lauren was the first fashion designer to detour successfully to home furnishings more than a decade ago. And like Lauren, Klein has opened a flagship store on Madison Avenue to showcase his broadening interests. Wonder if he will sell sheets by recycling Brooke Shields’ famous advertising one-liner: “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins”?
The Home Collection is available in the Dallas area at Dillard’s NorthPark.
BOOKS
The Paper Trail
SOLVE YOUR HOLIDAY GIFT-GIVING HEADaches by shopping the Dallas Book and Paper Show on December 9 and 10. More than 75 dealers will exhibit and sell rare, antiquarian, and out-of-print books at Market Hall.
Book dealers tend to specialize in genres or categories, and just about any subject one could think of will be represented at the semi-annual show, revived last May after a five-year hint us. You ’re bound to find something of interest for even the most picky person on your gift list. Look for children’s books, first editions, Southern writers, sports, Texana, natural history, military history, the occult, and mysteries. While serious collectors will pay thousands of dollars for rare and prized items, there also will be plenty of selections available for only a few bucks.
Look also for unique paper, or ephemera, such as prints, maps, postcards, trade cards, celebrity auto-graphs, movie posters and stills, legal instruments, treatises, and early advertising. The show is Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are S4. Free parking.
SHOPPING
Silver with a Story
There’s a new way to look at silver, and it’s not through the gates of a bank vault. Vintage institutional silver, from European hotels, restaurants, and steamship lines, is turning up on fashionable tables.
It makes for a different look than your grandmother’s heirloom pieces. For one, the pieces don’t match. But that’s the point. Second, dings and nicks are desirable signs of age. Third, the silver is likely to bear company logos or monograms unrelated to your family,
“It s very novel and could have some sentiment attached if it reminds you of a hotel you’ve stayed at,” says Jeanie Galvin, a vice president at Neiman Marcus. The company’s NorthPark store has been offering vintage English hotel silver for a year. Nei-man’s inventor)’ of silver-plated flatware and holloware includes bud vases, can-delabras, and room service-size coffeepots.
Pottery Barn also began offering vintage silver about a year ago. Silver-plated flatware is available as open stock, one piece at a time, or as a 20-piece set composed by the customer.
“People arc looking for more interesting and unique items for the table,” says buyer Lori Campbell. “These pieces look like they ought to have a wonderful story to tell.”
