Harris Reed’s SS26 runway show in September featured fourteen looks cut entirely from Fromental silks and velvets, transforming the wallcovering house's couture-grade interior textiles into a sartorial spectacle of tiger-print skirts and brocade corsets that pushed the designer's already theatrical maximalism further still. Now, the collaboration moves in the other direction – or, one could argue, back in the same.
Harris and Fromental have, for the first time, translated that same flamboyant energy into hand-painted and hand-embroidered wallcoverings, alongside cushions, bolsters, and throws that carry the runway’s avant-garde spirit back into the home.
‘Back’ because, while this marks the pair’s first official interiors debut, the crossover isn’t exactly new territory. Harris and Fromental co-founders Tim Butcher and Lizzie Deshayes previously collaborated on two runway collections, following Harris’s bespoke wallpaper project for his London home, where the trio initially created three designs for the walls.
Take, Wilde Dreams, which first appeared as a one-off in Harris's bedroom before debuting on the runway in Look 11: an unexpected 'mélange' – Harris's favorite and completely befitting French word – of pink-crimson florals set against kingfisher-blue moiré silk. The 'Multifarious' demi-couture might grace a gala or a fru-fru fête for a single evening. Now, released as wallpaper, the same whimsical drama can linger far longer, wrapping the walls of a dressing room day after day.
Or take a seat on a sofa instead. Ambiguous Tiger, seen in Looks 3, 4, and 12, translates just as easily into soft furnishings like bolster pillows, striking a wild note in otherwise restrained spaces – a sitting room, perhaps, or even a home office – where, as in fashion, the pattern becomes something to interact with, to inhabit.
That seesaw between within and without, expression and restraint, was central to the collaboration from the start. Fashion, after all, is a public performance, while interiors remain a private one. The heart of Harris’s universe beats in that push and pull: the same look might pair a cage-like crinoline with a cloud of unruly tulle.
In this interiors collection, that catwalk drama continues. 'Some [designs] are printed and glazed, and some are gilded with faux gold leaf. I love that they sit beautifully together. I have them both in the same room in my home – the juxtaposition heightens the sense of fabulousness,' muses Harris.
While this marks Harris’s first official step into interiors, it’s unlikely to be his last.
'I saw the power and creative impact of wallpaper,' he explains, noting that – much like the 'it' factor of a great accessory – 'bold expression doesn’t demand a sprawling property. It can live on an accent wall, or in a powder room you never want to leave.' 'Interior decoration is the scaffolding of self-expression,' agrees Fromental co-founder Tim Butcher.
The runway may have heightened this fantasy – but this time, the walls are where it gets to stay.
Once dressing the dramatic London home of the designer, and later debuting as demi-couture on the runway, Fromental x Harris Reed finally returns home – this time, to one of your own.
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