When Millaux co-founder Laura Tanzer told her therapist she was thinking about making bedding, the response took her by surprise. “She was like, ‘Oh, that makes a lot of sense because the bed is like the womb.’” Tanzer hadn’t thought about it that way before, but the parallel struck a chord.
The designer had previously worked at Vetements before studying at Central Saint Martins, followed by three years working side-by-side with Demna once again, but this time at Balenciaga, which entailed the build and rollout of couture. Tanzer’s co-founder Jessica Simpson (whom she is also married to) is a former professional tennis player who traveled 35 weeks out of the year, living in various hotels along the way. After a bad injury, Simpson pivoted to a handful of different industries, from working in art galleries to building hospitality brands and venues. The two met in the UK and eventually, the spark for creating a lifestyle brand was ignited.
“Laura and I had a long distance phase in our relationship and it just became part of our romantic conversation talking about hotels and bed linens, like, ‘What’s the room like?’ or ‘What makes it cozy?’ kind of thing,” says Simpson. When the two moved in together and were curating their bedroom, they wanted more from what was on offer. “We both love the challenge of world-building,” says Simpson. “So I think this is where the idea of creating a brand that draws on different kinds of heritage came from; not just to be built on old-school prestige or modern minimalism, but to be maximalist and eclectic but also fun and peaceful—all of these things.”
The name Millaux is plucked from a memory from Tanzer’s childhood. “There is a town in the south of France called Millau that has the longest bridge in Europe, and when I was younger we would go to visit.” Close to the bridge, her grandparents had a family home that made a lasting impression. “My recollection of it is as this grand estate where I remember finding scorpions in the garden and being like, ‘Oh my god, look at all of these creatures,’” says Tanzer. This sentimental—and almost mystical—lens is an undercurrent for the entire collection.
Millaux is positioned as an haute couture ‘bedclothes’ brand with each item made to order and available to be custom-created based on request. “Sizing for bedding is universal but the problem is, it’s not universal,” says Simpson, pointing out that it’s common practice for different brands to create their own version of what a queen or king means. “We definitely approached it from a fashion design point of view, working also with fashion printmakers,” Tanzer says of developing the brand. “And similar to couture, we build the collection and you can come to us and say ‘Is it possible to have a color change or a custom size,’ or perhaps you have a beautiful green tapestry at home hanging on the wall that you’d like to match. We’d like to have that interaction with the client in hopes of creating a bed home for them.”
Tanzer and Simpson partnered with Fiona Blakeman to design the prints. Also an alumni of Central Saint Martins, Blakeman has a longstanding partnership with Grace Wales Bonner, worked under Phoebe Philo at Céline, and more recently developed the Guinness pint print for J.W. Anderson. “I’ve never met somebody with such great taste,” says Tanzer. And the collaboration was organic from the outset. “We explained our world and gave her the ‘house’ that we imagined it being and the different rooms we would want to be filling,” she says. From there, they amassed a visual pile of references and inspirations. “It was everything from bedroom photos to mythical creatures, just weird things that created this home that we felt everything could live in,” says Simpson.
Millaux launches this week with two collections: Pastoral and Royale. “It was clear we wanted to have an animal print because there were so many tapestries we found with animal prints,” says Tanzer. “We also wanted flowers or a garden in some way.” And while she acknowledges florals are tricky to do elegantly, Blakeman had no issue. “She managed that pretty quickly. It was amazing to work with her, picking which flower and what kind of meaning was behind them.” (They landed on a bespoke wild orchid rendered in both ivory and a rich burgundy.)
The rest of the collection taps into fanciful motifs, like the triangle edges in Royale that resemble a medieval flag or the zigzags and x-shapes found throughout. The whimsical color palette for Pastoral offers hues like baby blue and candy pink paired with chocolate brown and midnight black, while Royale goes for energetic tones of sorbet, lime, and cardinal red.
The collection incorporates two types of materials. “Laura and I love sleeping in the combination of linen and cotton sateen,” says Simpson. The European flax linen is woven in Portugal and has undergone a garment wash for softness, giving the fabric a relaxed drape. For the other texture, they work with a 610-thread count Egyptian cotton sateen that is spun, woven, and manufactured in Italian ateliers, Simpson shares, adding that most of it is a twisted yarn, “which gives it a really luxurious feel.” All of the fabrics are Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified and the dyeing processes are GOTS certified.
While some of the collection is offered in more muted shades of ivory and grey, Tanzer and Simpson wanted to challenge the status quo of what a bed ‘should’ look like. “A bedroom should be where you feel like all parts of you are held, and we found that a lot of people when they hit a certain age start having ‘adult’ versions of sheets, and everything’s white and matching,” says Simpson. “We wanted to create something where pillowcases are sold in singular form and to encourage people to have four different pillowcases if they want, and to have a duvet cover that doesn’t match because everything lives in the world and it doesn’t matter.”
“There’s no reason to only have white bed sheets!” chimes in Tanzer. “Of course, nothing against white bed sheets as they can be beautiful, but there’s no reason to stop the self-expression the moment you get into the bedroom.” The two of them note that while there are specific references within the collection, the brand is meant to be modular. “We’ve pulled elements into a new fictional house, that embodies a lot of different eras and different parts of history—and a lot of different ways that people can express themselves,” says Simpson.
Taking the idea of this fictional home a step further, the two created a house scent to coincide with the collection (which will be a smell sachet tucked inside an envelope that’s mailed with the bedding order). “When we first started we imagined this dilapidated house with weeds all over, a massive chateau in the middle of nowhere, and how it looked like no one was living in there but when you walk in there are rich smells and lots of candles and lots of laughter, but also lots of little areas where people can just have time to themselves,” says Tanzer. “You walk into the library, the windows are open, and there’s a little bit of rain and wind outside. And old books. And you can smell grass from outside, and it’s just this feeling of home.” (The fragrance was developed with Simpson’s aunt who has a company in Cape Town, where she crafts scents for brands.)
For the launch, Tanzer and Simpson also commissioned George Eyres to tackle the still life photography, who has worked with brands like Loewe and Ferragamo. “He has a strong sense of light and an obsession with sensuality and luxury, so it was clear we were going to have to work with him.” For the interiors shoot, they brought photographer Isabel Bronts on board. “I spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect castle and I found one about an hour outside Milano,” says Tanzer. The three of them packed up and spent three days in the sprawling estate, moving from room to room styling and photographing the collection. “I’ve never ironed so much in my whole life.”
Looking ahead, Tanzer and Simpson have plans for how to expand, but won’t be adhering to a seasonal calendar. “It will be based more on whim or necessity,” says Simpson. Currently, Millaux has a six- to eight-week turnaround time. “I think what’s quite special about the tailor houses we’re working with is that they specialize in bed linen and do everything by hand,” says Simpson. “So our relationship with them is respecting the fact that they are artisans and how they work one order at a time.”
This slower pace echoes the bedrock of the brand’s intention. “Many of us spend so much time and money for the eight hours we’re outside of the home, but we don’t always think about the other place we spend eight hours in, which is the bed,” says Tanzer. “The bed is where you calm your day down and also where you start it. There’s something beautiful about that ritual that we’re curious to keep exploring.”
