Sister Parish

Our Parish bedlinen is inspired by ticking, a woven striped fabric used as a covering for straw or feather mattresses for hundreds of years.  The word “ticking” originates from “theka” a Greek word, which means covering or case.

Ticking, a sturdy fabric akin to denim or canvas was historically associated with durability and was used for mattress covers, heavy-duty aprons, and army tents.

In the 1930s, Dorothy "Sister" Parish breathed new life into ticking when she, as a newlywed, sewed curtains from it. This unconventional choice revolutionized the perception and usage of ticking, leading to an unexpected and successful career.

Born as Dorothy May Kinnicutt in 1910 to affluent parents in New Jersey, Sister Parish earned her nickname from her three-year-old brother, a moniker she carried throughout her life. She was first schooled in New York, later boarded at Foxcroft School in Virginia, and made her debut in 1927. At the age of 19, on Valentine's Day in 1930, she married banker Henry Parish in Manhattan. They had two daughters and a son.

After briefly living in a Manhattan apartment, the couple moved to a farmhouse in Far Hills, New Jersey, where Sister Parish took charge of the interior decor.

She certainly went bold and colourful - the walls were covered with wallpaper featuring stripes, while ticking fabric was repurposed into curtains. A cherry-red paint covered the bedroom floor and was finished with white diamond patterns, and the bed cover was skilfully made from white silk taffeta, adorned with a floral border.

Three years later, as the Great Depression affected the financial situation of both her husband and father, Sister Parish embarked on an unconventional path—she entered the workforce. She rented a small 4m x 4m room in New Jersey for $35 per month, furnished it with a wicker chair and desk, and established her own decorating business. Despite the disapproval of having a relative in the trade, resulting in her husband's disinheritance in favour of his cousin Eleanor Roosevelt, Sister Parish's friends—and friends of friends—were captivated by her home's transformation, seeking her expertise to revitalize their own spaces. Her business thrived, partly due to her association with influential circles.

Though she lacked formal training, never having read a decorating book, or served an apprenticeship, Sister Parish's business flourished. She soon found herself designing for prominent names in New York's elite, including the Astors, Vanderbilts, Gettys, and Rockefellers. By the 1940s, she had become one of the world's leading designers.

In 1944, she moved to East 69th Street in New York, and renamed it "Mrs. Henry Parish II, Interiors," and that is where she successfully built her business over the next 40 years.

In the late 1950s, Sister Parish crossed paths with the young Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline and was given the task of decorating their Georgetown townhouse. Impressed by her work, Jackie retained Sister Parish's services to redecorate parts of the White House after Kennedy's presidential election in 1960. The focus of the project involved adding a dining room, kitchen, and pantry upstairs in their private quarters, to alleviate the problem of having to go downstairs whenever they needed to eat.  Sister Parish's tenure at the White House came to an end when she apparently got fired by the First Lady for chastising a young Caroline when she put her feet on the upholstery.

Following her notable work at the White House, Sister Parish's demand surged. In 1963, at a dinner event, she encountered a young designer named Albert Hadley. Impressed by his talents, Hadley joined her firm and became her business partner in 1964, leading to a name change to Parish Hadley. Sister Parish continued to contribute to the firm well into her 80s.

Upon Sister Parish's passing in 1994, House Beautiful editor Lou Gropp remarked, "There is no question that Sister Parish was one of the most influential figures in the field of decorating in the United States. She dominated the decorating scene in the 1970s and 1980s, and many of her innovative ideas from the '70s have now become commonplace in American interior design."

A 1999 Architectural Digest article described Parish’s style “Her interiors, as a rule, were refreshingly unstudied, unself-conscious, and unrestrained - a Sister Parish room, overflowed, to be sure – but buoyantly.  It was romantic and whimsical but not sentimental - and it was always light”. 

Dorothy "Sister" Parish is widely credited with pioneering the renowned American country style, leaving an indelible mark on interior design. Her influence extended far and wide, shaping the work of a generation of decorators, including icons like Ralph Lauren and Martha Stewart.

Thanks to Sister Parish, ticking fabric experienced a remarkable resurgence. Today, we pay homage to this legacy with our exquisite Parish bedlinen collection. Inspired by the essence of ticking and named in honour of Sister Parish herself, our bedding reinvents this timeless fabric. Crafted from soft cotton percale, it showcases a sophisticated stripe pattern and a subtle herringbone background, reminiscent of the original ticking that sparked Sister Parish's creative journey.

It seems ticking is here to stay and, to quote Sister Parish, “Innovation is often the ability to reach into the past and bring back what is good, what is beautiful, what is useful, what is lasting.”

We think we have achieved that with our range of beautiful Parish bedlinen.