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![Is Fringe Furniture Making a Sexy Comeback? | Architectural Digest](http://cdnus.globalso.com/eklfurniture/Nesting4.jpg)
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From Emma Roberts’s lips to God’s ears, the message will be heard loud and clear: Fringe furniture is in. Almost every lampshade, curtain, and pillow inside the actor’s “grown-up dollhouse” designed by AD100 firm Pierce & Ward is covered in fringe trim. “I feel like there can never be enough stripes or fringe or tassels in a house, which I know people would disagree with, but I love it,” she says while showing off the gorgeous space in Open Door.
But for those of us who have been paying close attention from the inside—the call is quite literally coming from inside the house—in recent years, fringe furniture isn’t exactly a newfound revelation. Justina Blakeney’s humble abode featured a pair of fringe chairs she sourced from Chairish, and the bedroom suite inside Jean Philippe Demeyer’s house in Bruges is trimmed with fringe. (Not to mention that the designer has famously featured fringe in many of his restaurant projects.) SNL star Chloe Fineman was so struck by a pair of fringe chairs that she spotted on Instagram that she commissioned Blair Moore of Moore House Design to recreate a custom set for her. (Fringe furniture is also a recurring theme in the world of Bode, both at the store and at home.) For the cover of Vanity Fair’s new TV issue, award-winning actor Ayo Edebiri sits on a plush pink fringe chair.
Justina Blakeney at home with her beloved vintage fringe chairs
Over the past six months, Analuisa Corrigan has been embarking on a self-described “fringe journey” within her lighting practice. The ceramicist turned designer has been going through a fringe phase ever since she started experimenting with the fabric in 2023. “I definitely feel it bleeding into other aspects of my life and wanting to put it on stools and things that are not just lampshades—especially once you get nice fringe,” she explains. “At first, I was sourcing fringe from a fabric store that I typically go to, but once I discovered that there are different tiers of silk fringe, that was a slippery slope… Once you feel a really fine-threaded silk fringe, it’s just so glamorous and gorgeous.”
Given how far fringe has veered from its original function, Analuisa was deeply fascinated when she learned that it was originally used to reduce textile waste. “[Fringe] was used to repel different natural things like rainwater and dirt. It was used by a lot of Native Americans on the ends of their clothing so that material wouldn’t fray,” she says. “Now it’s completely turned into this non-functional and decorative thing that we adorn clothing and furniture with.” Analuisa is quick to point out how, when fringe began its ascent in fashion and design, it spoke more to a social dichotomy where it was an “obnoxious, over-the-top, and ostentatious” display of wealth.
“I honestly don’t think people are ready for fringe,” she admits. “I think they’ll come around to it at some point, but for some reason people are still hesitant.” Analuisa blames this resistance on people’s unwillingness to be more playful in their living spaces, coupled with the pressure of maintaining a minimalist space that evokes calmness and serenity. “Fringe doesn’t have to be this gaudy, over-the-top design element,” she adds. “If anything, it’s a really nice avenue for light to be diffused by.”
“I find fringe to be so exciting and playful,” says Analuisa Corrigan. “I feel like fringe is one of those fabric elements that is somehow both dorky and sexy at the same time.”
The Compartment Chair by Waka Waka in Matcha features a Japanese inspired zabuton cushion with 12"-long fringed rayon that serves as “as an expressionist cushion idea.”
For Analuisa, fringe has added a dimension of lightness to her growing body of work, which is primarily ceramic. “It’s just inherently heavier, very opaque, and not transparent at all, so to have the two together has always seemed like a really interesting play on material,” she explains. “It’s exciting to refine an atmosphere or a space through something as simple as fringe… Redefining the way that it’s used and almost leaning into its practicality again is a cool way to look at it now. Yes, it’s purely decorative, but it’s diffusing the light differently than, say, a fabric or a paper shade would.” Analuisa plans on continuing to explore this material after the completion of her latest solo exhibition, “A Better Place to Be,” at Picture Room. “I’m sure I’ll have more to say about [fringe] the longer I work with it because we’re still getting to know each other; our relationship is just getting started.”
Kristin Dickson-Okuda of Iko Iko and Waka Waka is a longtime fan of fringe and its many ornamental iterations in the fashion world. “Its application in furniture is usually a trim on a couch or a pillow, but I think it’s nice to modify that and have it be either really exaggerated or mismatch the application,” she explains. “It has a really bodily, scatological connotation to me.” For years, the Los Angeles–based designer has been toying with the idea of dressing up the home with materials that serve as a garment trim on a piece of furniture, like Waka Waka’s Compartment Chair (which can be yours for $2,200).
Kristin thinks it’s valuable for artists to consider how to do their own version of fringe in a different material, volume, or texture. In 2022, she debuted a series of “chair dressings” at Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery consisting of historical Sussex chairs with exaggerated trains of silk that were either attached to overstuffed cushions or scrunched to cover wire tendrils. “You can change what people expect because fringe is always a decorative option,” Kristin adds.
Madelynn Hudson’s dog, Sybil, rests on the fringe sofa in her living room. “You could literally use upholstery pins to just stick it in there, or you could use a needle and thread and tack it on really quickly in a few spots and pull it taut, and you’re done,” she says. “It’s the easiest DIY, that’s so fun.”
When Madelynn Hudson, a New York–based interior designer, consultant, and creator, was looking to zhuzh up the white chenille fabric on her Maiden Home sofa, the first idea that popped into her head was fringe. “I saw people adding fringe to their upholstered furniture that felt a little basic and thought, That’s a perfect way to address this sofa, so I literally ordered five yards of bullion fringe in an off-ivory color and just tacked her on,” she remembers. Madelynn has been admiring fringe furniture for “at least a minimum of eight years,” starting with fashion pieces and then evolving to tasseled ottomans, doorknobs, and Venetian silk chandeliers. “We have a few tassels grazing the different rooms throughout the home,” she notes.
While decorative tassels have always been in the cultural zeitgeist, Madelynn proposes that this new era of fringe feels more fresh with all the variations on upholstery skirts that have emerged over the past two years or so. Her theory is that this is all pointing to a resurgence of French Art Deco and the Venetian Secession movement. “Suddenly, it doesn’t feel like your grandma’s sofa,” she says. “You’re like ‘Whoa, that feels really cool and sexy.’”
The quiet return of fringe in our homes could be signaling a shift away from the mess we all left behind with cluttercore. “We’re going toward curated and collected homes,” Madelynn declares. “Fringe and tassels add a little bit of that old-world collected feel and slight sexiness that the Deco eras brought as well. We want things that feel like they have personality and reflect our personality and our choices but have a bit more of a point of view. Gone are the days of the white plastered walls and bleached-out oaks.”
A side angle of Carly Cushnie’s Leon chair for Lulu and Georgia
Blair Moore made this custom fringe chair at the request of comedian Chloe Fineman.
Madelynn anticipates the pendulum swinging away from super -pproachable design trends like modern farmhouse and organic modernism into aesthetics that incorporate subtle touches that feel feminine and lush, like deep jewel tones and dark wood tones. “I think we’re going to see more and more dark bronze colors instead of unlacquered brass, then you throw in things that are bright and shiny, like a polished nickel, and it all blends together,” she says. “I call it house jewelry, like my doorknobs, faucets, light fixtures, all of those feel like the jewelry of the home…. We’re going into this stage that feels like ‘I want my home to feel dressed-up fancy, like she has her best pearls on.’”
While the ghosts of minimalism’s past make the most pristine interiors feel sterile, elements like fringe seem to be bringing a sense of life back in. “I want my house to feel sensual and delicious,” Madelynn says. “Of course, I want it to be calming, soothing, and clean, but I think you can get that while still having a home that feels sexy.” Analuisa recalls how “everyone was really leaning into beige interiors and everything was a little bit more neutral and organic” leading up to the pandemic. “I do feel like people have started to come out of that a bit and welcome more color, richer fabrics and materials, and more ornamental pieces into their homes. It’s been interesting to watch people become more open to these things,” she adds.
“It can be done in a contrasting color or fabric and really stand out or it can be done in a more subtle or tonal way that feels very organic to the piece,” Carly Cushnie says about incorporating fringe in a space.
Carly Cushnie agrees with this observation while acknowledging the collective desire for more personality in the home as the primary factor for why we’re seeing such a surge of interest in mixing textures and materials. “Playing with fringe and adding that element is a move away from things that are so pared down,” she insists. Her debut furniture collection for Lulu and Georgia features a bouclé chair with a train of fringe down the back, an idea that came out of a desire to create drama from a different angle. “I wanted it to feel like the bouclé was almost unraveling,” she says. “It obviously wasn’t made that way, but I wanted it to look as if it’s one fabric. I’ve always liked the balance between creating something that is elegant and refined with an organic, more textured element to it.”
Carly personally appreciates the versatility of fringe and how it can be done in so many different iterations, from a contrasting color or fabric that really stands out to subtle tones that feel very organic to the decor. “It creates some texture and movement depending on the placement of it,” she says. “I really like that aspect of it because furniture is obviously a still piece, but when you interact with [fringe] it gives it a little bit of life. It’s a nice way to interject some playfulness into pieces or into a room.”
“If it’s a fringe lampshade, a fringe chair, a fringe sofa, or even a fringe bed frame, I’m obsessed…. I don’t know what it is,” says Francesca Grace. The home staging and interior designer created this bed for her furniture line SOMME.
Francesca Grace, a Los Angeles–based designer, also has an insatiable desire for fringe furniture, as seen inside her Victorian-themed bungalow. “Pieces that have fringe automatically come with so much more personality than your average upholstered chair,” she says. “Even if people are afraid to use it in main furniture pieces, pillows and lampshades are such a great place to start. If you want the character without going hard, start with a pillow.” The home-staging and interior designer claims that fringe is the easiest fix for anyone who’s hesitant about adding too much color, pattern, or texture into their space. “You don’t have to commit hard, but a doorknob? Boom, done, easy!”
Francesca’s personal favorite is a thick bullion fringe which speaks to her more than thinner fringes with a playful demeanor. “I think they elevate the space a little bit more,” she adds. “I’m edging out of the playful designs and more toward the romantic vintage aesthetic.” Back in March, she launched her furniture line Somme with four bed frames featuring bullion fringe upholstery on the rails and footboards. Francesca has recently noticed fringe incorporated more commercial spaces from restaurants and hotels to gym lobbies in West Hollywood. “Fringe is such a nice compliment to any velvet, linen, or cotton fabric that you use,” she explains. “When I started designing, I was such an advocate for it. I probably pushed it on every single one of my clients. Even if they have more of a modern aesthetic I’m still like, ‘Trust me, let’s just add this one little pop in the corner.’”
The main seating area inside Nardò, an Italian restaurant in West Hollywood designed by Francesca Grace, features fringe lamps and banquettes. “When I started designing, I was such an advocate for [fringe]—I probably pushed it on every single one of my clients,” she says. “Even if they have more of a modern aesthetic, I’m still like, ‘Trust me, let’s just add this one little pop in the corner.’”
When Tiffany Howell, founder and principal designer of Night Palm, was conceptualizing a glamorous lounge for Caviar Kaspiala in Los Angeles, she opted for fringe furniture to elevate the cognac-and-cappuccino-colored combo for a tasteful juxtaposition. “I use fringe a lot of times as my example to clients, it’s another fashion element, because I always start everything with fashion or music,” she explains. “So to me the fringe is the skirt, the upholstery on the sofa is the top, and then my lighting is my jewelry. I love referencing and bringing an outfit to life through upholstery.”
Her main intent with fringe is to introduce it as an element that feels timeless, which she typically achieves by dressing contemporary furniture pieces with ’70s-style fabrics and fringe skirts—Tiffany is currently designing a chair inspired by suede fringe jackets from this era. “I’m going to basically bring that to upholstery, so you’re going to see that,” she says. “It’s not going to be as rigid and as stiff as suede, but the idea [is] this ’70s-meets-Deco suede moment. It’s been tough to find a perfect fabric that has that movement, but it’s giving that vibe.”
“The key is finding that perfect juxtaposition of the nostalgic fringe with a contemporary shape of furniture. It can’t just be super Old World,” Tiffany Howell says. “The fun, for me, is to make it a contemporary sofa, maybe use a ’70s-style fabric, and then give it some fringe as a skirt.”
Tiffany believes that this gravitation toward old-world boudoir vibes in contemporary places is a result of people wanting to yearn for something again. Although she’s seen less upholstery with fringe out in the wild, the designer has been noticing more products with it, citing Analuisa as “a perfect example of people and artists using fringe as a sculptural element in pieces.” From her purview, fringe has an undeniably playful demeanor to it, no matter the setting. “I like to make the fringe feel very sexy and lush so it gives this old-world romance to a place,” Tiffany adds. “Fringe, actually, in a small way, injects a bit of soul into a room.”
According to Madelynn, the key to making fringe feel modern is following a monochromatic theme. “All of the pieces we’re seeing with fringe on the bottom as the skirting is in a monochrome colorway and that keeps it feeling very fresh, updated, and modern,” she explains. “Make sure that the fabric you’re adding it to feels luxe. If you add fringe to a linen it’s going to feel more coastal or boho, but if you’re adding fringe to a mohair then that feels really sexy and Deco.” Tiffany agrees with this tip while noting that it adds a fun pop of color to a space without dominating it. “You could do a very soft colored piece of furniture, and then you can be a little bit more playful with the color in the fringe,” she suggests.
Kristin swears that “the first thing you want to do is touch fringe,” so placing it on the arms of chairs instead of attaching a skirt around the bottom also allows for a more casual encounter. “Anything that has movement to it creates an interactive space, it’s just like the wind blowing and the fringe moving,” Tiffany explains. “It’s like creating little moments that dance, like old flapper dresses moving around…. It’s really fun.” But she insists that the most appealing aspect of fringe is probably how accessible and approachable it is as a material. “Admittedly, I’m not a great DIY’er, but it is fairly easy to go to the fabric store, get a beautiful fringe, and just put it on something,” she shares. “Anything that you can do on your own is fun because a lot of things are just so out of reach for people.”
A close-up of Kristin Dickson-Okuda’s silver silk armrest fringe tie Sussex chair dressing for Substance in a Cushion at Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery in 2022.
Élan Byrd, a Los Angeles–based artist with a background in fashion design, uses raffia (a material for weaving baskets, mats, rugs, etc.) as a layer of texture for many of the pieces featured in her collections for Lulu and Georgia, RH, CB2, and West Elm. Unlike standard 2D surface materials, the application of raffia has a fringe effect that adds volume to the wall art, hangings, and tapestries that she creates by hand. “Fringe is the art itself,” she says. Élan has discovered new ways to manipulate the “unruly material” from fringe to fabrics, bringing an “element of the wild while still being tamed” to her growing body of work.
“People are tired of blank spaces, so finding ways to add in texture and movement—fringe is a great option for that,” she explains. “There [are] so many different materials that people are creating fringe with, not just traditional tassels on a curtain. You’re finding a lot more innovative ways to incorporate that in. The texture that it brings is quite cool; you could have a very monochromatic space but then have a textured fringe lampshade. Something that creates dimension is what people are looking for now.”
A series of wall hangings made with raffia fringe by Élan Byrd.
Regardless of your design style, fringe can fit in with any aesthetic. If you’re craving some character for your space, Élan insists that “there are ways to incorporate [fringe] into your own style and not think of it as this outdated application.” While she typically incorporates fringe within a neutral color palette, Francesca leans more traditional maximalist and Madelynn turns up the Art Deco decadence—their homes couldn’t look more different, but the common thread that ties them all together is fringe.
“In order to make a home feel like you, I feel like you need to incorporate different aspects and things that you like in general,” Élan says. “Most people, if they describe their style, it wouldn’t be one specific thing in terms of fashion. So it’s like, how do we now translate that into the home space? There are usually a few aesthetics that you gravitate towards, how do I incorporate them all and make it cohesive and feel like me? More people want to know how to do that and adding a touch of fringe doesn’t hurt anyone.”
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