You Can Sit With Them: Fashion Designers Pick Their Favorite Chair
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Rick Owens lives in sparsely furnished dwellings, and so when he embarked on a search for the ideal chair in 2014, he set the bar very, very high.
“They need to be appropriate for the space and have poetic and legendary provenance, but also tremendous restraint,” he wrote in his “Diary of a Somebody” for How to Spend It magazine that year. “They need to be glamorous, but look humble and aesthetically severe.
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“I’m afraid I expect a lot from a chair,” he concluded. “Prouvé and Perriand are great, but I can enjoy them at everyone else’s house.”
Owens ultimately found his ideal four-legged friends in a set of rare Jugendstil dining chairs by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen, father of Eero Saarinen. (Jugendstil is often described as the German counterpart to Art Nouveau.)
Many fashion designers are passionate, and fussy, about chairs. During his Balenciaga years, Nicolas Ghesquière would often arrange special seating — one season, hundreds of Warren Platner wire stools; another, glossy wooden benches with a special baked-on finish.
Tom Ford was partial to sumptuous sofas during his Yves Saint Laurent years, and Riccardi Tisci lined up plush Art Deco armchairs for his Burberry debut.
Bottega Veneta’s creative director Matthieu Blazy now carries the torch for fabulous runway furniture: His last show featured Gio Ponti’s Superleggera wood chairs, which have been manufactured since 1957 and proved as comfortable as ever.
Here, WWD asks a range of fashion designers to have a seat and tell us all about their favorite chair:
Rick Owens
Favorite chair: “It’s from an Eliel Saarinen dining set custom-built for this family in Finland in 1902. I only have two armchairs, but then I have six chairs without the armrests. Eliel Saarinen was one of my favorite architects ever. I was on the hunt for a good office chair because I couldn’t bear to have one on casters.”
The backstory: “Every once in a while I would just Google ‘Jugendstil’ and see what’s out there, and eventually I found this dealer with the set. They are super comfortable, and at the top of each chair there’s a little inlaid flourish that hits you right below the round part of your skull and the lower cushion fits right into the right place of your back. So I have a few here at my apartment next to our factory [in Concordia, Italy] and then I have the rest of them at my apartment on the Lido and these are basically the only chairs that I have. Everything else is either benches or couches.”
Tory Burch
Favorite chair: A chair designed by Paul Poiret.
The backstory: “One of my favorite chairs was a present from my parents. It was designed by Paul Poiret, and I love the way the sleek design plays off of the unusual colors inspired by nature.”
Véronique Nichanian, artistic director of menswear at Hermès
Favorite chair: “The Pierre Jeanneret lounge chair.”
The backstory: “I fell in love with [it] while traveling to India about 25 years ago. I was lucky enough to stay in Chandigarh, in a house designed by Le Corbusier where they had the Pierre Jeanneret lounge chair. I find it interesting because I discovered it in the actual city where it was imagined and created. Part of what makes it so special to me is its sustainable approach of using local materials for its fabrication, which at the time was completely innovative. I also enjoy the contrast between its massive teak structure and the transparency through the rattan cane works of the seat and the backrest. It is an architectural design with very clear and confident lines. I am fond of the legs in the shape of a compass forming an upside-down V, with the armrests adding two more lines. I also like the slightly tilted backrest that gives a floating impression. It creates a surprising equilibrium that confers its singularity to this timeless design. The design, through its lines, embodies both strength and poetry.”
Pieter Mulier, creative director of Alaïa
Favorite chair: “Allunaggio” by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.
The backstory: “[It’s] the first ever chair I bought; I dreamt for years about it. It’s a conceptual masterpiece, made for the outdoors. It redefines the way we think of seating and how it takes the space around it with its long elongated legs… The Castiglionis are among my favorite designers because their body of work is radical, revolutionary and so aesthetic.”
Thom Browne
Favorite chair: “The Gainsborough chair…”
The backstory: “It is timeless, good looking, and is the chair that Andrew [Bolton] and I sit in every evening and have drinks….And Hector likes it too…”
Gabriela Hearst
Favorite chair: An armchair crafted out of Korean Zelkova with leather detailing hailing from the Nomad collection designed by Gavron Dumas Studio for Gabriela Hearst. “The collection was born out of Benji Gavron and Antoine Dumas’ love for handmade objects and traditional ways of making. The leather inlays are a reference to the work of Rena Dumas. Only six were produced, four of which are in Gabriela Hearst stores in Korea and two in the U.S.”
The backstory: “I am very lucky that I work with some of the best creatives in the world; I can say it seldom happens when somebody understands you intrinsically and your aesthetic. It was instantaneous with Antoine and Benji.”
Julien Dossena, creative director of Paco Rabanne
Favorite chair: “A chair by Gaetano Pesce, from the collection ‘Nobody’s Perfect’.”
The backstory: “[I like] the transparency, the colors, the very pure expression of Gaetano Pesce, the idea that it is unique and handcrafted.”
Camille Miceli, creative director of Pucci
Favorite chair: “The ‘Chaise Carbone’ by Martin Szekely. I love this chair because it is a gesture of purity and at the same time a warm and livable object.”
The backstory: “The work of Martin Szekely is related to my long-lasting friendship with Azzedine Alaïa. Martin has designed bookshelves and tables for me. The design of Martin is very inspiring to me in the way it remains ‘design’ but at the same time, a piece that you live with without being constrained. The purity of the shape and the curve of this chair relate very much with my creative approach to Pucci.”
Christian Louboutin
Favorite chair: “It’s called the Bruant chair from Maison Gatti. Since my childhood it has represented my perfect image of the French bistro.”
The backstory: “It has a Renaissance feeling from the 1920s and is made out of woven Rilsan and rattan that are dipped in a natural silicon which adds strength and the possibility to stay outdoors. [It’s] beautifully made in France, still by artisans and the intricate pattern is super interesting and changes according to the color you weave together. Those chairs give to the Parisian cafés their notorious elegance and the very specific identity of the French bistro.”
Massimo Giorgetti, creative director of MSGM
Favorite chair: “My favorite chair is the Womb Chair by Knoll, no doubts. I consider it one of the most iconic pieces of modern design. It was designed in 1948 by Eero Saarinen and I really think it shows the Finnish designer’s talent in breaking schemes and creating that North European minimal aesthetic that is still current and modern after 70 years.”
The backstory: “The Womb Chair first charmed me for its elegant, organic and sinuous design, inspired by the shape of the human matrix, then for its functionality. Saarinen wanted ‘a chair that could be like a basket full of cushions, something I could really curl up in.’ I think he succeeded in his goal because there’s no home without a Womb Chair for me: I have a model in a different color in each of my houses and it’s perfect for reading books and leafing through magazines or [be on] my iPad; for carving out moments of relaxation; for curling up [in it] and even to meditate, getting lost in [my] thoughts.”
Tamara Mellon
Favorite chair: The “Oeuf” chair by Jean Royère.
The backstory: “I love the minimal yet cozy feel of it, it is perfect for a special place in my closet.”
Martine Sitbon
Favorite chair: The “Strumenti musicali” chair by Piero Fornasetti.
The backstory: “This is a ‘Guitar’ chair but not just any chair. This is a chair [that] marks an important moment in my life, a memorable one. It was at the time of my first collection for my own label. The wife of my partner at the time introduced me to this extraordinary shop of a friend of hers, Piero Fornasetti, whom I met that day. It was a special moment… I left the shop with one chair on each arm. Today they are still with me, in my home, with a real sentimental value.”
Yang Li, fashion creative director of Shang Xia
Favorite chair: Glass Chair by Shiro Kuramata.
The backstory: “Kuramata is a design god to me. The glass chair from 1976 was so cutting edge at the time and used a special method to bond the glass to create a chair so pure, with high fidelity of form due to the precision and modern craftsmanship required [that] only 40 [pieces] were made. It seems magical that one can even sit on it.”
Jonathan Anderson, founder of JW Anderson and creative director of Loewe
Favorite chair: The Iklwa lounge chair by the designer Mac Collins.
The backstory: “To me, there’s the element of craftsmanship through the making and it’s sculptural in a way that it almost becomes a functional piece of art.”
Alex Po, cofounder and designer of Ponder.er
Favorite chair: “My favorite chair is a Jiao Yi (交椅) which is a replica of an ancient chair from the Han Dynasty. I guess it’s the love-hate relationship that makes it my favorite chair. The chair itself is very heavy so it’s not the best chair to move around, but the rounded handle that is connected to the back seat creates the most comfortable curve to sit at any angle. Its Tan Xiang (sandalwood) smell stays [with] the chair forever. The more I rub the handle, the [more the] smell stays on my hand and body and creates a grease shiny surface on the chair.”
The backstory: “My family works in ancient Chinese furniture replicas. I appreciate the craftsmanship of wooden carving and its construction, but this Jiao Yi [chair] is the one I fell in love with. Most ancient Chinese furniture is built based on the shape of the wood obtained which would usually be crafted into more regular shapes such as a cube, unlike contemporary furniture which is constructed based on the human body and positioning. The curved handle on this Jiao Yi changed my perception of Chinese furniture. I love this combination of heritage and elements of surprise, which are often reflected in my own creations.”
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