AMERICAN HOMESTYLE & Gardening, Gruner+Jahr’s B-list answer to Conde Nast’s Architectural Digest and House & Garden, doesn’t usually include the sort of style that makes serious interior design aficionados sit up and take notice. But in a rather direct fashion, the February 1999 issue may change all that.
In a piece titled “Rooms to Go” (written by Linda Fears, produced by Kathryn Brookshire and photographed by Maura McEvoy), the magazine decorates three interiors using furnishings and accessories from catalogs, each room being decorated from one catalog. Ironically, one catalog highlighted is J. Peterman Co., whose last home furnishings merchandise was inspired by the movie “Out of Africa.”
The article asserts, “The latest journey of the J. Peterman company (sic), the catalog retailer best known for taking its customers on dramatic adventures for fashion finds, is discovering authentic home furnishings and accessories.” We’re not sure what makes a reproduction authentic, but we did think Peterman’s latest journey was to bankruptcy court.
Timing and circumstance are kinder to the other catalogs considered in the piece, Anthropologie and Retrospect. “Scouring off-the-beaten-path boutiques and markets for unique furniture finds and interesting accent pieces-that’s the method behind the new, eclectic Anthropologie catalog,” Fears claims. And she touts the other: “From a painted armoire that showcases 17th century Italian decoupage to a pair of antique American botanical prints, the living room here captures the essence of Retrospect, the new sister catalog to the 19-year-old mail order retailer Room & Board.”
The catalogs specialize in ethnic and country furnishings and decorative objects, respectively. -JB
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