Stripes | The ultimate perennial

The 19th century saw political figures and royalty embrace stripes. Napoléon and Josephine decorated bedrooms and lounges with striped fabrics in their home, Château de Malmaison, deeming it in style to entertain guests inside tented rooms.

The nautical (Breton) stripe was first worn by navy seamen to ease identification when they fell overboard. Queen Victoria declared horizontal stripes a sartorial choice alongside their vertical counterparts when she dressed her son in a nautically striped sailor suit for a royal outing, propelling the pattern into high class status.

In the 20th century, Coco Chanel is said to have found inspiration in the sailors of the French Riviera and incorporated nautical elements into her 1917 collection. Over the past 100 years stripes have become a mainstay in fashion textiles, regularly featuring in designer collections and as a recognisable symbol of French culture.

From fashion to interior design there is no limit to how stripes can be used and in the 21st century, they are a bonified classic. Beloved by interior designers like Steve Cordony and Lucy Montgomery, who use these timeless patterns to transform their client’s spaces with neo-classical elements and a sense of relaxed traditionalism.

Read on to discover our favourite striped textiles, including James Dunlop’s latest release, the Heritage collection.

The ticking stripe was popularized in Nimes, France, and is characterized by a central broad stripe bordered by a thin stripe of the same colour on each side. Ticking stripes were traditionally crafted in red and blue on a neutral background.

The bold stripe, sometimes referred to as the cabana stripe, is a broad, bold stripe that is evenly spaced and almost always vertical.

The name Breton stripe derives from the Brittany region of northern France where the French Navy were based, which is why the pattern is also referred to as a nautical stripe. Traditionally, a Breton stripe is constructed of alternating blue and white stripes, where the white stripes are twice the width of the blue.

Pinstripes consist of thin, sharp lines evenly spaced along the fabric. A symbol of power, pinstripes suits were originally worn by bankers with the varied spacing between the stripes distinguishing the different banks.

The barcode stripe is composed of a random assortment of stripes and can contain an endless number of colours. The stripes differ in size with irregular spacing between each stripe and no clear order – like a barcode.