Fashion 88 : Colorful Florals Are Fabric of Canovas Collection

If home-furnishings fabrics received the same press as haute couture, Manuel Canovas’ name would probably be as familiar as that of Christian Lacroix. And for some Canovas fans--such as actor Michael and Pat York and Jacqueline Onassis (who, as First Lady, decorated daughter Caroline’s White House bedroom with a Canovas design)--it already is.

Indeed, Lacroix used fabrics by Canovas in several of his 1987 ball gowns for French socialite Jena Patou.

The textile designer’s latest collection of fabrics, introduced recently at his showroom in the Pacific Design Center, seems to reflect the fetish for flowers that is raging on the Paris runways these days. Florals, however, have been a staple of the Canovas line since it was first introduced in 1962 and will remain a part of his tapestry-like Jacquards and sprightly cotton prints long after we have plucked them off our jackets.

But it is his mastery of color that has earned the Paris-born Canovas a worldwide reputation and an exhibition last year at the Musee des Arts de la Mode at the Palais du Louvre in Paris.

“Design is secondary to color,” Canovas says, fingering his latest version of “Pivoines,” a lush tapestry of ripe peonies in a palette of rich mauve, gold and blue. “But the design must be perfect, naturally.”

Though they are not intended to be reversible, several patterns, with richly colored realistic images on the front, have beautiful abstract images on the back.

Canovas’ use of color, particularly in the silks, is sophisticated enough to warrant framing. Color is his muse and his music, and he speaks of it with the language of a composer, referring to a favorite document print as, “a little baroque march.” (“Documents” are duplications of antique patterns that often emphasize the age of the design rather than trying to disguise it.)

Color, for Canovas, is a medley of “tones” and “harmonies.”

The maestro’s sources of inspiration are as varied as the designs they yield.

Document Print

An antique porcelain Niederwiller bottle-cooler was the spark behind a bold mauve-and-yellow stripe design that seems more reminiscent of the 1970s than the 1850s. A witty document print that features a pattern of fur tails tied with ribbons corresponds perfectly with the recent fashion craze for faux fur, but it was inspired by a favorite design of Louis XV’s wife, Marie Leczinska, after whom the Canovas design is named.

The most intriguing source of inspiration is Canovas’ sand collection, 200 samples from beaches around the world, the varied neutral tones of which are part of his color base of 7,000 hues.

“There are no ugly colors,” he says, “only ugly combinations of them.”

Early next year, Canovas plans to treat the United States to the bed, table and bath linens and beach accessories that are now available only in Paris. Boutiques on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles and on Madison Avenue in New York will enable Canovas fans to take his designs outdoors, in the form of beachwear, accessories, towels and umbrellas. The beach accessories are “the most exciting,” he says, “because they mean holidays.”