This Pierre Frey Best-Selling Pattern Is Getting an Update

Few fabrics and wallpapers rival the chameleon-like effect of the Pierre Frey’s beloved Toile de Nantes, an ikat pattern that has become a staple in interiors conceived by top designers such as Mark D. Sikes, Markham Roberts, and the late great Mario Buatta, whose 2013 monograph features a Toile de Nantes–swathed bed on its cover. Since its debut in 1991, the pattern has been available in Bleu Ancien (wallpaper and fabric) and Rose Ancien (wallpaper only), but this month the launch of six new colorways will make the bestseller even more versatile.

“Toile de Nantes offers the right balance in terms of design, shape, and color,” Pierre Frey, the founder’s grandson and the textile house’s communication director, tells AD PRO. “Today there are so many clients that want to have a touch of classic in their modern home, and it’s the perfect match.”

Announced this month at Paris Design Week as part of Pierre Frey’s fall collection debuts (arriving stateside late September), the latest additions—Océan, Sanguine, Herbe, Absinthe, Céladon, and Cannelle—were carefully selected to complement other popular Pierre Frey patterns. And for those who enjoy enveloping an interior in pattern, there’s good news: Each colorway will be available in fabric and wallpaper.

Like many Pierre Frey designs, Toile de Nantes honors France’s textile heritage. Dating to the second half of the 18th century, it was inspired by an ikat pattern (achieved through a warp printing technique) that was often featured opposite a toile de Jouy fabric draped over a canopy bed. The pattern spiked in popularity again in the 1970s, when Estée Lauder selected it for the bedroom of her East Hamptons home, currently owned by her granddaughter, Aerin Lauder.

Sikes says the iconic bedroom—which features walls, furniture, and windows all sheathed in Toile de Nantes—is “one of [his] favorite rooms of all time.” To this day, it remains a muse: “Using one fabric on everything is one of our favorite ways to appoint a fabric that we love. It’s easy to execute without looking like it is, and somehow it always works,” the designer says. He has incorporated the Bleu Ancien colorway to a resplendent extent in the library of his Hollywood Hills home. “There isn’t another fabric that I can think of that pulls at my personal heart strings more!”

Toile de Nantes remained a hit throughout the ’90s, shares Pierre Frey, but interest declined in the early aughts as design trends skewed minimalistic. Over the last decade, however, American clients have increasingly “begged” for its return, Frey says. “Now we know that ‘classic with a twist’ is really popular and elegant,” he adds, also emphasizing the pattern’s resurgence in France, the UK, and Italy.

The proof is in the pages: In AD’s June 2022 issue, the pattern appeared in the primary bedroom of photographer Claiborne Swanson Frank’s Greenwich, Connecticut, home. “It packs a lot of punch for a monochromatic pattern, and has that well-traveled, sophisticated feel that would look just as good on a Louis XVI piece as a Jean-Michel Frank club chair,” says Asia Baker Stokes, the residence’s designer.

Now available in a full spectrum of hues, Toile de Nantes is prepped and ready to cement its icon status in a new wave of “classic with a twist” interiors.