What do rich people buy for bedding?

This is so subjective, OP, as people prefer different things. I could just say something like "Frette and small producers in Europe", but that may not work for you. It's more about educating yourself on the different types of materials and thread counts, etc., then seeing who the best producers are for what your preferences are.

Frette, Sferra Giza, Yves Delorme, Matouk…

If you don't have the money to have your linens sent out to be washed and pressed, your luxury sheets are going to be a wrinkled, unsightly mess — especially if they are white, "hotel-style" linens. All that money spent will be for shit, and you'll never be able to press them like a cleaner would without a lot of time or expensive equipment. That's the "rich people" secret.

Satin sheets

Peacock Alley bedding. It's fabulous.

The best European bed linens are vintage, often made by now defunct brands. There are weaves, materials, and qualities that are no longer produced. The looms are gone. Europeans don't grow the plants. And as mentioned above, many of these linens require a local, expert pressing, and they have gone out of business in cities across Europe. They have enormous metal rollers and know how to produce the desired finish for each kind of weave.

I've been told by dealers that collectors of fine 20th century European linen, besides myself, include Isabel Adjani. I'm going to sell mine or give it to a museum because I can no longer afford the costs and shipping to process this linen by the remaining expert blanchisseries. Also I'm getting old and since COVID quit the stream of house guests that such a collection services. Nobody cares about the finer distinctions. We are fading, prisspot connoisseurs.

As for new, any of the current so called lux companies will do, but the eye and fingers immediately sense none of it is like it used to be and the range is narrow. The jour de Milan or dentelle De Milan on the sheets pictured in the Times article. Laughably meagre. And one can see the weave isn't all that, and there is no weight.

Almost every new soft commodity in the world marketed as "refined" or "luxury" is a kind of ersatz version of what such commodities used to be. Leathers, furs, woollens, linens. Forget about it.

I suppose one can still buy a bespoke English suit.😱

You confirmed my instincts, r6. By the time I could afford the luxury brands, i was consistently underwhelmed by what was on offer. Any tips on European dealers or other good places to source would be welcome. I completely understand if you want to keep that to yourself.

I just bought sheets from Boll and Branch after buying some for my dad and they’re excellent quality.

Would love to edit my comment to say that I bought some for my dad and he likes them, too, and that yes, I know they aren’t considered high luxury, but they’re higher quality than Target or department store sheets.

I have used Boll and Branch for a few years now, and am a true fan.

The only fitted sheets that actually fit and go on like buttah.

The great dumping of grand European bed linens was 1990-2010 ish. its when bourgeois families lost their elders who cared a wit about the old ways and still maintained large homes with complete sets of all the seasonal linens. Yes, there are summer and winter linens. Let's not even get into the DIVINE down furnishings, also summer and winter, and feather mattresses and all varieties of "pillow" - none of it made anymore.

Anyhoo, so the new generations are just not interested in any of that stuff. Certainly not the grandkids who are the age to acquire things. They don't want the crystal, china, silver, brown furniture, and certainly not the piles and piles of linens. They might take a few important pieces such as a lamp or French chair, a painting, or some good carpets. That's about it.

The reseller of linens were down market - it all ended up in charity bazaars and flea markets.

The BEST sources were the annual sales by local charities still run by local bourgeois old ladies. These have events called kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess. The bourgeois ladies knew the deceased and the collections would be stocked and sold at one summer or winter weekend sale. 2000-2010 - embarrass de richnesses.

The quantity and quality of linen being sold off for peanuts in bland community event spaces.

(And furs! and vintage luxury leather pieces before the handbag hype beast roared back in the zeitgeist - Chanel classic flaps for 60 euros. And cutlery, when it wasn't sold to the smelter.)

You could get it at regularly organised flea markets, too, the once a month kind, and the better ones were of course in provincial cities where nobody cared much or could even identify what it was, except a few old queens and dealers running around stocking up.

Often you found large lots all straight from the one family. Half of it never used. Wrapped in its original packaging. It was both delightful (for the buyer) and sad (total end of era).

There are dealers in the capitals who have shops or stalls at the established puces. Pricey of course.

Like collecting Murano 20th century lamps and lustres. Produced in vast quantities and owned by average folks with a bit of taste. But now treasured. You could travel through Northern Italy, and Switzerland and Austria, and those 10K Venini lustres were a dime a dozen in little charity shops in nowheresville. Nobody wanted them. Or Chiavari chairs. Or Thonet. And on and on and on.

You are a treasure, r11. Thank you. Sounds like I need to do the hard yards of discerning the wheat from the chaff to get my hands on whatever's left. I've avoided the shops and puces because I'm worried my American accent would invite scam artistry.

Keep in mind what the NYT article mentions - collections of fine linens usually deserve and reward time on a drying line in the sun. Any season. Especially if you can't "calendar" - professionally roll - the linen. "Six Pins Dolores! Six Pins, Not Five!" In fact you shouldn't pin linen sheets because wet they are heavy and they need continuous support. Meaning a linen/flax sheet is hung to dry by folding it over a line, or ideally, over two lines spaced a foot apart.

In the very oldy worldy times, bed linens were not washed often but the staff of a chateaux would take advantage of the summer to wash then lay the linens flat on grass, because the sunlight combined with the Chlorophyll and perhaps whatever soap was used, created a chemical reaction that bleached the (one could image quite crusty) linens back towards bright natural beige.

Air and sun dried sheets smell great. It's a kind of miracle because you can fold such a sheet, straight off the line, and take it out on grim day 6 months later and it still smells like a sunny day.

I buy Frette. They feel so nice. And as one poster mentioned I do get them sent out to be laundered and pressed.

Descamps is a French brand of luxury bed sheets. Not quite as expensive as Frette, but still around €600 for a set, that will last a long time. I have several sets I rotate and some are more than 15 years old and still look and feel great. They also have beautiful patterns.

This is great satire! Keep it going. Grazie.

Satin sheets to lie on, satin pillows to cry on

Satin lounges to die on.

Anichini. They closed the LA store, it’s mostly online now with one store in Vermont near Dartmouth.

I’ve owned $1,200 Frette sheets, etc and recently converted to a bamboo set I found on Amazon for $120. A new, extra deep mattress necessitated the change. And you know what? The Amazon cheapies might feel even better than the Frette sheets. Consider me a bamboo convert.

I stayed at a bed and breakfast with Brooklinen bedding and wasn’t wowed.

I have some sheets from my grandma’s house in hideous 70s patterns. They always feel crisp and comfortable.

To all the queens with the precious bed linens: do you fuck on these sheets? Do you have a coronary when an errant cum facial misses its mark and lands on your bed clothes?

No, fool, we invest in sheets that can withstand both that and your crap attempt at mockery.

Whatever brand you choose, do not get duped into thinking higher thread count equals better sheets. The quality and length of the cotton staple is more important. Low quality cotton, even at 1200 thread count, is still poor quality cotton.

R24 Sage advice.

I stayed at a grand palazzo in Naples and the bed sheets seemed like antiques. They felt like one of Nonna’s tablecloths.

Of all the inexpensive sheets, these are truly great. We have these on our bed and our guest beds. Every guest we have had remarks about them and goes on to buy their own sets. And some of our guests can afford to have any kind of sheets they want and they lov these. Well made with a wonderful feel.

r21, those are probably percale, which I love in the summer. There's a chain of stores in California, "Between The Sheets" fabulous quality.

I've been using these from Target for several years - at least 10 years. They hold up really well and feel really nice. They are the only sheets I buy now. I have 2 sets + extra pillowcases and rotate them each wash.

Satin sheets are very romantic

It doesn’t get more luxurious than this.

Matouk. Incredible quality and great designs.

What's best - cotton, linen or silk?

R27, can you describe the sateen feel? When I've felt sateen before (at admittedly low end stores) I didn't like it.

What's best is not being so god damned manic and actually reading the fucking thread.

r33, cotton or silk-cotton blend, pure silk tends to be too warm.

I used to work at an antique store and we had a bolt of old French linen sheeting, which was supposed to be the very best thing for sleeping. But I don't know how the average linen sets out there compare. Linen can be so scratchy

r37, it's beautiful, but in my opinion too heavy.

For color: Bossi

I like percale a lot more than sateen.

Percale summer, sateen winter. I love Matouk percale...the best.

On Worth Ave in Palm Beach: Dea Linens. They're Italian.

It's a small family owned company . They work with high-end interior designers. Very 1%. From the Pope to even Mar a Lago. They are what Pratesi used to be.

They are also sold at Braun on Park Avenue.

[quote]Whatever brand you choose, do not get duped into thinking higher thread count equals better sheets. The quality and length of the cotton staple is more important.

Very true.

Ah, yes, another thread custom-made for the DLers among us who specialize in the sad art of telegraphing socioeconomic status through disclosures of consumer-goods purchases, upbringing, education, childhood neighborhoods, or advanced dental work.

Carry on, fuckheads.

R43 There is also currently a thread about Hamburger Helper on DL in case you're interested.

In Judith Krantz novels, the wealthy jet setters are always sleeping on Porthault brand sheets.

Jesus Christ, you sound like a 25 year-old with a freshly-minted social sciences degree, r43. For ages, queens have been scheming about ways to get the very best things for next to nothing because conspicuous consumption comes with a lot of uneducated stupid and literal excess, as r11 outlines. Maybe if you fucking LISTEN you can learn how to live well, appreciating instead of just consuming, without having to totally prostitute yourself.

Linen doesn’t mix well with linen - your linen coverlet will slide off a set of linen sheets in a minute. Mix it with mercerized cotton or percale.

Also, why would rich people know the labels on their linens? That’s the house manager’s job. Stop asking folks for striver housekeeper tips.

The information you’re receiving is from bed queens - a much higher caste than rich people. They know their shit.

Also, Linoto - African American owned, takes three months for delivery. Sheets last ten years if you don’t wear jeans with rivets on the bed.

Bought a few $250 sets from LL bean and have been very happy with them.

Liking what you have is all that matters. Building up an appreciation for the better stuff that isn't just expensive for the sake of being expensive is both a blessing and a curse.

Hotel Collection from Macy's USED to have really good towels. I bought some bath sheets (the largest towel is called a "bath sheet") that shed a minimal amount of lint in the dryer, even during the first few washes. Those towels lasted over 15 years. They probably could have lasted even longer than that, but I wanted to switch colors from white to navy blue.

More recently, I bought a couple of Hotel Collection tub mats. Tons of lint in the dryer for a long while, but still pretty good quality. But not as good as before.

I only sleep on vintage Suzanne Pleshette sheets, for JP Stevens:

Gold bars.

Pratesi is another luxury linen brand. Italian.