Bill Blass is curled up on a not-too-comfy sofa in his Connecticut home, nursing a cold, taking a break from a favorite Willa Cather novel and contemplating the comforts of home.
“When I think of home, I think of (my) dogs,” says the award-winning fashion designer and owner of Shelby, a Labrador, and the younger Barnaby, a golden retriever. Having always had a dog as a boy growing up in Ft. Wayne, Ind., Blass says, “for me, they are part of what makes a home a home.”
And home is where this world-traveler most wants to be.
“I’m a Cancer and a homebody,” says Blass, who chose to just stay home rather than attend a 75th birthday bash thrown in his honor last summer.
Over the last 50 years, his work and his celebrity clientele, which includes Barbara Walters, Nancy Reagan and Nancy Kissinger, have taken him from London to Singapore to High Point, N.C. Yet, Blass says he always looks forward to “just being at home.”
And that’s at the heart of his newest venture–the Bill Blass Furniture Collection, which Pennsylvania House previewed Tuesday in New York.
The 12 pieces that the Lewisburg, Pa.-based company unveiled hint at a larger collection rich in material and history.
“There are 50 pieces in the collection, based on my antiques or derivatives from them,” says Blass, in a telephone interview from his Connecticut home. He divides his time between that 18th Century abode and his Manhattan apartment.
The remaining 38 pieces will be shown at the International Home Furnishings Market next month in High Point. Prices have not been determined.
The collection includes an Edwardian library table, a secretary based on one that stands in the foyer of his Connecticut home, an upholstered chaise and a crested sleigh bed. All are made of cherry with other wood accents.
“Blass’ fashion sense and his design sense come together in this collection,” says Mark Hart, director of marketing and advertising for Pennsylvania House. “The antiques he has may appear sophisticated and complicated, but in this collection he’s edited them and pared them down so that you end up getting a lighter town-and-country feel that is both elegant and casual.”
Pennsylvania House hopes the designer’s touch–and, perhaps, more important, his name–will catch the eyes (and wallets) of furniture shoppers, especially those who have an affection for antique styles and an appreciation for Blass’ sophisticated, easygoing look.
Blass, in the past, has licensed his name to be used with car interiors, linens and cologne. And though he realizes his name will be part of the attraction for his new furniture collection, he insists: “I’m selling taste.”
His special touches are evident, from fabric-lined drawers to the smooth, cherry-wood finishes.
There’s no confusion in Blass’ mind about his role in design and how he fits in the world.
“Who am I? I’m curious, a lover of books, and someone who wishes to learn. . . . I’ve traveled a great deal. Unfortunately, I’ve been to places and seen people who don’t want to cross the street,” says Blass, who turned 75 in June. “The people stand still, and they prefer it that way, and the reason they do is that there is no curiosity.
“For me there is nothing worse than standing still.”
Blass saw Pennsylvania House, which last year changed ownership and management, as a good match for a man on the move. The company was eager to make some bold moves.
“We felt a designer name, like Blass, would help us to do that,” says Hart.
Another furniture manufacturer already has had proven success with a design name: Lauren.
Ralph Lauren’s collaboration with Henredon has made the name of one of the most successful fashion designers as popular in furniture design as it is in fashion, says Lori Stengren, a buyer at Honquest Fine Furnishings in Barrington. She adds: “People ask for Lauren (furniture) by name.”
Pennsylvania House is hoping the same will happen with Blass. The company also hopes that his line will draw attention to their existing lines–Wyndham and Jefferson Estate. .
Longtime pal Chessy Rayner, of the New York design firm MAC II, says Blass is a man and a designer who is comfortable with himself. She says comfort and confidence come across in his home and in his fashion designs.
“There is nothing small or ditzy in his home,” says Rayner, who helped him do the interior of his homes.
“The furnishings in his home are comfortable and squishy,” adds Rayner. “Some of the things he has are kind of quirky but it’s what makes his apartment so amusing. It’s really more gutsy than showy.”
He counts among his most unusual and favorite finds the large sterling silver tree trunk with a petrified wood top that’s in his New York apartment. He bought it in the 1950s at an antiques store on the Left Bank in Paris.
“The eclectic collection of furniture is the way most of us live,” says Blass. And that’s how he envisions people using pieces from his collection–mixing them up with furniture they already have. “Most of us would love to have a more relaxed home. No one wants a room you can’t sit in and you don’t want to move in.”
Rayner, who has worn Blass designs since the 1960s when Blass’ star in the design world began to soar, says Blass’ designs are “very much in keeping with his personality. There is nothing froufrou and over-designed. What you see is simple and what you see is strong.”
Blass says the 1980s was a decade when clothes were more opulent and rooms were too. In the 1990s, rooms and clothing are simpler.
This is what he hopes people will be attracted to in his debut collection: simplicity–and comfort.
“Anyone who knows Blass, knows of his love for home and his love of dogs in the home,” says Pennsylvania House’s Hart. “It’s important that a home is lived in and feels lived in. This collection represents that.”
