An Exclusive First Look At The New Yves Delorme AW23 Collection

What inspired the new designs?

The Yves Delorme AW23 Collection is inspired by the Venetian wanderings of the Biennale and the desire to revisit these Venetian palaces with their mysterious poetry, dated charm while maintaining a certain modernity. She pursues this reverie towards oriental or Indian palaces, the splendour of their decor, the luxuriance of their ornaments and their hidden gardens. It is an invitation to discover the reflection of light on the weathered walls, the painted ornaments, the revisited patterns.

The following are my inspirations of each garden-inspired design in the collection.

• Golestan – at the heart of a mysterious secret garden in the far East. Like a stroll through a palace, Golestan invents a dreamlike decor inspired by exotic fabrics brought back from the East, where stylized flowers undulating on their stems draw the ornamental motif of an imaginary garden.
• Grimani – immerse yourself in the lush nature of a palazzo. This model is a tribute to the famous Foliage Room of the Palazzo Grimani di Santa Maria Formosa in Venice. In celebration of the sumptuous expressions of Nature, the ceiling of the room is entirely covered with plants, fruit trees and flowers, in a dense thicket inhabited by a range of fauna. The Grimani design offers a dreamlike flock of birds and motifs, between foliage and cashmere, in delicate shades of blue-grey and bronze.
• Alcazar – enter the lush refuge of the winter garden in an Andalusian palace. Exuberant foliage growing in the sheltered warmth of a palace, Alcazar evokes the mystery of a winter garden. Rich tones in deep, bright colours reveal a motif of leaves and budding florals that adorn the hidden retreats of inner palace courtyards.
• Fugues – hear the subtle whisper of the Herb Garden of Simples. Since ancient times, simple herbs, simplicis herbae, Angelica, Thyme, Chamomile, weave poetic, mysterious and infinitely precious links between humans and Nature. Printed on a light cotton batiste, today they bring us their benevolent attention. Since antiquity, simple herbs (simplicis herbae), like angelica, thyme, chamomile, have been weaving poetic, mysterious and infinitely precious links between man and Nature. A botanical landmark of the interior courtyards of palaces, these magic herbs are now printed on a light cotton batiste, revealing their singular beauty to those who knows how to interpret them.

What made you bring nature into your designs, do you think?

At Yves Delorme, our world, our garden, is the very heart of our identity: each season, Mother Nature enchants and inspires us! We often say ‘it is the poetic gaze upon the flower that renders it Yves Delorme.’ It is truly the poetry and mystery of nature that intrigues me… I believe that bringing the garden indoors can certainly have a positive effect on one’s well-being.  While the House is known for its bold florals and plant prints, we also craft more abstract reminders of nature; in our jacquards for instance, where the undulation of water may be expressed through this weaving technique, or through coordinating prints, where minute petal-like motifs remind us of seeds, grasses or flowers.  In this way, nature is truly omni-present in my designs.

Are there any gardens that particularly inspire you: French gardens, English gardens? 

The French garden, inspired in fact by Italian gardens, is special because it is architectural, it is built with a particular symmetry in order to trace the duration of a stroll, in a succession of spaces that the visitor travels through… where one is subjected to surprises and opportunities to rest; and to perspectives and lights and shadows, allusions and illusions…

But it is more the contemporary approach of the garden that inspires me: the unexpected mixtures of flowers and grasses, the hidden spaces that are discovered at random from a stroll. This is why the English garden charms me… by its free interpretation of space; it inspires us by creating pictorial viewpoints, evolving from season to season.

Finally, the imaginary garden: the artistic and cultural inspiration of other parts of the world have great importance in the writing of the Yves Delorme Garden.  It is this encounter between dream and reality, culture and emotion that make this unique style magical and mysterious.

Does the brand think about the natural world in its production process – sustainability, perhaps? 

With nature so present in my designs, Yves Delorme has taken numerous steps to protect ‘Her’. Yves Delorme linens are made with the finest organic cotton, and a large majority of our products are woven in our own studios in France. Yves Delorme also collaborates with Oceanic Global, for the protection of the oceans, since 2017, and was awarded the highest level of certification from Oceanic Global for the sustainable practices in its headquarter office and production facilities; including the elimination of single use plastics and exceeding ecological norms in France. All of these gestures are, for us, a celebration of the natural world.

And, finally, are there any images of nature – or gardens – that have particularly inspired you recently?

I would say the Mediterranean that takes one on a travel between fragrant flowers and exotic plants close to the sea (Taormina), The lush vegetation of distant countries (Bahamas), the poetic design of Japanese vegetation (Saito) or the forests and woods that tell their mystery (Boréal).

The AW23 collection launches 1 August, shop SS23 at uk.yvesdelorme.com.