Pink Boucle

There was a time when Pink, as used in interior design, was reserved for little girls and bowls of roses. But when a colour ascends, the rules bend. And so, this most charming of hues is featured for any room and any thing your heart desires.

Pink has an association with boucle fabric, a weave characterized by an exaggerated loop, through fashion. Pink boucle was a wardrobe staple of Jackie Kennedy in her White House years. In making a return to fashion, it has crossed over to design and this is not a repeat. Pink boucle is daring and new in decor.

Let’s start by looking at fashion since that is the root of the trend. The many pink boucle numbers in Chanel’s Spring 2021 collection attest to its importance right now.

I caught the look in St John’s window. Prada has the perfect shade, which they call alabaster pink. (I love good colour names, don’t you?) But they use it in smooth knits and fabrics. In all cases, the fashion shape is simple and sweater-y. That ease and simplification carries over to pink interior products.

In interior design, boucle is de rigeur for the newest styles in seating. The new round furniture shape actually first showed exclusively in boucle, as shown in these articles. Chairs and sofas in this look have lost their edges, like river stones. I have been calling them ‘blob’ shapes, the term a design futurist used. As it comes about, I see it referred to as ‘bubble’ shaped, and frankly I prefer that term and hereby adopt it!

Many will opt for Natural boucle to manage risk. They won’t be wrong. Pink is the high fashion interior design choice for those who dare.

Covet House was early into this seating trend, as was Pierre Frey furniture. They have both appeared regularly in these posts, and here is the newest offering from Brabbu at Covet House and from Pierre Frey. The brand Raddice & Galotti has been attracting my attention, and they have a perfect example of this forward design.

Pink Boucle upholstery fabric first appeared in the collections of Rogers & Goffigon and Dedar in a wool blend, and at Sandra Jordan in alpaca. It’s first showing at a lower price point is by Pindler in polyester. Ecru boucle, showing first at Pierre Frey with the Natecru collection, can now be found across the designer textile market. As to colour names, Ecru was the popular name for off-white in the Kennedy era.

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The featured shades are pale alabaster pink, pale mauv-y shell pink, and clear true ballet pink. The highlighting pink is fuchsia, which I find works well in velvet. To be honest, velvet can actually be substituted for boucle.

The companions to pink are black and brass. A linear black floor lamp next to a boucle lounge chair pairs well! If you are opting for an Ecru boucle chair, and want to bring in Pink, try a brass floor lamp with pink bubble glass shades. I’m configuring a natural boucle lounge, a black linear floor lamp, and a pair of pink pillows on the sofa, with a bright young client.

So, dear Diva, pink is a reminder that once there was a Camelot and a cue to foster our charm.