Some of the best-dressed homes today are leaving little to the imagination. They’re downright flirts, with peekaboo fabrics springing up in places where you might not expect them.
It’s no sheer coincidence that the transparency trend has come straight from fashion designer runways. Last year’s Grammy Awards were abuzz with talk of “The Dress,” the flowing green chiffon palm-patterned Versace held together by a single bauble just below Jennifer Lopez’s navel. There is some historical precedence, at least in statuary. The Parthenon’s ancient Greek caryatids are clad in what art history books describe as diaphanous garb.
In the home, illusion fabrics have a long tradition on windows or as airy panels on four-poster beds. But sheers now have come into their own, no longer limited to old-fashioned white or ecru pinch-pleated undercurtains that offered sun screening but took a back design seat to the fancier draw drapes on top.
Wispy organza hints at another layer of color beneath in a pillow perking up a neutral chair. An embroidered gossamer throw drapes over a sofa arm like a luxurious evening shawl. Pinafore-like covers dress chairs, calling attention to their form. Filmy place mats and napkins reveal what’s beneath. A shimmering iridescent topper adds hue and sparkle to a plain white tablecloth. Even the bed is transformed with a breath of color and subtle pattern in a thin sheet.
You’ll find the same diversity of sheers in home furnishings that you will in clothing. Fabrics include organdy, organza, cotton voile, linen, gauze, chiffon and synthetics. Colors range from eye-popping orange or cobalt blue to burnished olives and plums to pale apricot and sage, as well as iridescents often woven with metallic copper, silver or gold.
Patterns feature tone-on-tone or subtly hued geometric checks, plaids, stripes, some with textures (created with a satin or other opaque weave alternating with the sheer). Soft-colored prints, often with nature-themed images such as flowers, leaves, feathers or insects, have been popular. Still other patterns are adorned with embroidery, some ornately woven with metallic or velvety threads.
Sheers appliqued with pockets offer another twist: The pockets may be filled with fabric leaves, flowers, ornaments that might be changed according to whim or season, a playful way to alter the overall design as well. A Parisian designer once stitched slim pockets into sheer panels and slipped in glass vials sporting red roses for a breathtaking still-life.
What’s more, sheers are being marketed by high-end retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue and to-the-trade manufacturers such as Rodolph, Donghia, Pindler & Pindler and Jack Lenor Larsen, and by more mainstream sources such as Pottery Barn. At IKEA, patterned cotton voile sheer curtains have been available for an affordable $19.95 a pair (for a window width of 39 by 89 inches). White embroidered organdy skirts for chairs are selling at Bombay Co. for $25.
The allure of sheers seems to be crystal clear.
“There’s a sense of a calm, relaxing and airy feeling people want in their homes,” said Kristen Schmitt, editor of Window and Wall Ideas, a special-interest publication of Better Homes and Gardens. “Sheers give you that.” And with all the patterns and embroideries now available, “they’ve become a design element.”
In addition, sheers have helped bridge a design gap between traditional and contemporary interiors. Schmitt says sheer fabrics lend themselves well to more modern window treatments, such as ethereal Roman shades, a happy medium for architects more likely to favor going bare without regard for privacy.
One feature of sheers that designers like is the sense of romance they lend. Even a no-frills gauze creates a beguiling mood. Consider the image of mosquito netting cocooning sleeping quarters in an exotic locale.
Along with romance, there’s the element of light play that only sheers offer. A translucent material filters daylight and artificial light. A sophisticated Brunshwig & Fils linen sheer plaid, for example, was shown by the manufacturer framing its Ludwig settee. As a screen, the curtain adds a balmy fluidity, puddling on a carpetless floor. While it reveals the gently scrolled arm of the white-framed sofa, there’s still an element of mystery. What else is behind?
Which brings up the appeal of peering through layers. Like seeing a wood grain through a colored stain, layering pieces of contrasting materials is all the more intriguing as it adds depth.
A patterned sheer on solid or another sheer fabric is especially fetching. A pattern adapted to a “lighter than air” blue georgette, taken from a kimono design for Anthropologie, gets an entirely different dimension when hung over a panel of contrasting fustier organdy with colorful borders.
Shelter magazines are brimming with how-to ideas for sheers. The current issue of Living Room, a new publication from Better Homes and Gardens, showed how to take a red-on-white embroidered scarf (or Indian sari) and transform it into a breezy no-sew curtain, hung from a matte finish rod with red and white ceramic swirl finials.
With all these choices, it’s easy to think of the sheer as a fashion accessory for the home, one that can change a room’s appearance and mood.
Consider how a wispy fabric can lighten heavier bed linens. Substitute a tissue-thin ecru organdy bedskirt embroidered with grass flowers (the Garnet Hill catalog is one source). The peek at an iron, polished or worn wood frame changes the bed’s personality. Layer in translucent color with bed scarves, virtual throws for the bed. One of the Soft Surroundings catalog’s most engaging ensembles is an organdy veil in barely there aqua embroidered with floral sprays with matching pillow shams. It’s dramatic on pure white, covering the crisp bedding without disturbing the simplicity of the white. Another option from this catalog is a blue voile set embroidered with an all-over white vine.
A tailored chair takes on a decidedly feminine air when skirted with a sheer. Bombay Company’s tie-on cover features a demure flounce about 12 inches from the floor and fits most side chairs with seats up to 191/2 by 21 inches. Slipcovering the whole chair in a pinafore-like sheer is another option, one that can be further embellished with buttons or ties that lend a sophisticated dressmaker element.
Designer Larry Laslo appreciates dressmaker details and the nuances of sheers. He took an organza printed with floral sprays that look watercolored and slipped it over satin, finishing the pillow with flat satin ties. When he held up a sample, available in jewel-like amethyst or peridot (a sagey green), to complement his furniture for John Widdicomb at the High Point, N.C., market in October, the accents nearly stole the show.
No matter how they’re used, whether they’re functional or purely decorative, whispery sheers clearly are no lightweights when it comes to design.
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Where to buy
Here are sources for sheer decorating fabrics and products:
Anthropologie: 1120 N. State St., 312-255-1848, www.anthopologie.com.
The Bombay Co.: To place an order or learn store locations in the Chicago area, , call 800-829-7789 or visit www.bombayco.com.
Brunschwig & Fils: Through designers and architects, 6-121 Merchandise Mart, Kinzie and Wells Streets, 312-329-0178, or visit www.brunschwig.com.Rodolph Inc.: Through designers and architects, Suite 631 Merchandise Mart, Kinzie and Wells Streets, 312-822-0766.
Soft Surroundings: P.O. Box 4205, Hazelwood, MO 63042; 800-749-7638; www.softsurroundings.com..
Garnet Hill: 231 Main St., Franconia, NH 03580; 800-622-6216; www.garnethill.com.
Horchow Collection: 800-395-5397.
Neiman Marcus: 737 N. Michigan Ave., 312-642-5900; 5000 Northbrook Court, Northbrook, 847-564-0300; 6 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook, 630-572-1500.
