Why everyone’s talking about... Chintz
IT’S time to ‘chuck out the chintz’ again as Ikea has unveiled plans for a Central London shop, in Oxford Street, rather than its usual edge-of-town stores. But what is chintz?
Originally it was an Indian textile printed with flowers or other patterns, typically on a light, plain background. The word comes from the Hindi ‘chint’, meaning speckled. It was so popular here in the 18th Century that Parliament banned the wearing of chintz to protect our domestic textile business. Mass-produced British designs led to an association with the cheap and vulgar – novelist George Eliot was said to have coined the scornful adjective ‘chintzy’ in an 1851 letter to her sister. Yet the chintz style remained very popular with Victorians.
And ‘chuck out your chintz?’
It was Ikea’s TV advertising slogan in 1996 – aimed at transforming British homes away from their traditional fussy furnishings towards a new era of clean, contemporary design. The Swedish giant’s sales soared and the overturning of dated tastes was even credited with sweeping Tony Blair to power. ‘The Tories were the chintz and Ikea became New Labour,’ claimed Ikea’s ad guru. He also argued that it was a feminist campaign, with the jingle trilling: ‘We’re battling hard and we’ve come a long way, in choices and status, in jobs and in pay, but that flowery trimmage is spoiling our image, so chuck out that chintz today.’
So have we seen the back of chintz?
Possibly not. Laura Ashley has just announced a chintzy new range. Fashion bible Vogue says ‘floral sofas are back’, and at John Lewis, home stylist Wil Law reckons ‘chintz interiors are having a revival’, since we’re spending more time at home and we want a look that puts comfort over cutting-edge design. Other trend-watchers say the popularity of period dramas such as Bridgerton has fuelled a revival of vintage style.
But don’t call it chintz…
Call it ‘the English charm revival’. And youngsters in thrall to so-called ‘granny chic’ have been nicknamed ‘grandmillennials’ – how apt that it’s a florid but ugly word!