Fashion takes a seat

Interior designer Elizabeth Lowrey Clapp has designed a lot of local corporate offices, including banks and biotech firms.

So where does a creative designer get inspiration for buttoned-up jobs like these?

From the trendy fashion showrooms of Milan, New York , and Los Angeles, of course, all the better to understand what's hot on the runway, says Lowrey Clapp, director of interior architecture for Boston's Elkus Manfredi Architects. "We look at materials, colors, attitudes, which inspire more timeless, elegant offices."

The connection between runway fashions and executive office suites might seem a little tenuous, but more and more the office-furniture industry is taking its cues from fashion trends. "In the last five years, it's been a slow progression in this direction, but in the last year, it's been really pronounced," says Richard Vaughn, president of Peabody Office Furniture Corp., a 108-year-old company on Congress Street.

So pronounced that a recent Peabody window display did not feature the usual desks, chairs, or file cabinets. Instead, a tableau of mannequins was garbed in vibrant, luxurious commercial fabrics, intended for office work stations.

"People asked if we were selling dresses," says Sarah Carlow, a graphic designer for Peabody.

The influence of fashion on office furnishings explains why preeminent British fashion designer Paul Smith is creating textiles for the commercial fabric firm Maharam. One pattern, called "Bespoke," designed for office chairs or seating in reception areas, was inspired by a traditional men's suit fabric.

"We're always looking at fashion," says Mary Murphy, vice president of design for Maharam. "Last year, lace was a really big thing, so we came out with a textile that was a takeoff on lace. We've just done something with embroidery, since handwork is still very big."

Not so many years ago, a typical suite of corporate office furniture was best described as "dowdy," says Vaughn. "Colors were drab putty and oatmeal. It lacked style. It was functional, but lacked energy."

In the past few years, corporate America has begun to embrace its stylish side thanks in part to younger, more fashion-conscious workers and the need to lure top talent.

"There is not anything less appealing to people looking for a new job than sitting in a chair that's been there for 20 years," says Mary Murphy. "People have to compete for new help more, so they're more inclined to keep their offices appealing."

But even as the fashion world influences everything from paint colors and cosmetics to bed linens and dishes -- witness recent home furnishing collections by designers Nicole Miller, Vera Wang, and Versace -- its reach has been slow to extend to offices, particularly in conservative New England.

"Everyone is afraid . . . they won't look professional," says Raymond Duprey, a New England market manager for Architex, which distributes "contract" fabrics, highly durable and stain-resistant commercial fabrics that meet strict fire codes. "Boston offices are incredibly influenced by the old traditional guard, with very staid, neutral colors. People are afraid that if they do something whimsical, it reflects on them as not being professional."

Still, there are signs that demand is growing for an edgier office aesthetic. Architex is distributing a line of commercial fabrics designed by celebrated Maine artist Angela Adams, in her signature loose-formed geometrics. The textiles are so chic that Architex market manager Michael Ferreira designed pants for himself in the same fabrics. "I can't cross Newbury Street without being asked where I got them," he says.

So what's responsible for this merging of office culture and fashion? The speedy exchange of information, for one.

"We're living in this very fast-paced world now, and what's seen in Milan one week is in a local store the next week," says Maharam's Murphy. "Ideas flow very quickly from one person to the next and one market to the next. And we want immediate gratification and the newest, latest, best thing whether it's an iPod or the way my office chair looks."

Nothing says "newest-latest-best" louder than the world of fashion, where "20 minutes after it's on the runway, you can find it online," says Dorothy Cosonas, creative director of KnollTextiles , a division of Knoll, the legendary office-furnishings firm. "I've always looked towards fashion as a source, as inspiration for my work."

She found inspiration for one fabric in her spring 2006 collection from a Chanel lace dress she noticed in a catalog. Where anyone else might have seen a scalloped lacy border, Cosonas observed a modern but classic design for office upholstery. She sketched a section of the lace, which eventually became the basis of a fabric called "Icon."

Her fall 2006 collection of contract textiles includes an oversized houndstooth inspired by a Marc Jacobs coat, and a fabric with metallic stripes is meant to evoke a classic men's pinstripe suit. A fabric in her spring collection was inspired by a nubby boucle Chanel jacket she bought for herself ("at resale," she takes pains to point out).

"In the contract industry," Cosonas says, "you're in the beauty business."

Still, few who venture into the State Street Financial Center would guess that the idea for the streamlined, unadorned hallways and minimal use of materials came from a dress by Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto.

Lowrey Clapp spotted it in a Milan showroom and decided to run with it. "Milan is one of our biggest sources of inspiration," she says. "They're such leaders, they're willing to try anything."

And so is she. Just recently, she was thinking about big dinner rings. "Everywhere you look -- fashion magazines, stores, the Barneys catalog -- I've noticed that big jewels are popular," she says. "The bigger the better."

It was a short leap from Barneys to office hardware. "I haven't tried this yet," she says. "But I can see them as doorknobs for the entryway to a big corporate headquarters."