Okay, my last towel story… for a while haha. I run in streaks. No, I don’t streak. In which case towels would help. In my never-ending quest for vintage style towels approaching perfection, I hunted down these Espalma Chantelle towels. The jacquard and pastel styling reads very mid mod retro to me. Those have a similar look to the yellow towels at Anthropologie.
Where to buy: The only place that I could find these Espalma Chantelle bath towels online was at KatBurki.com. They come in five colors — Flax, Leek, Chamomile, Water and Peony. Or, as Mrs. Blanding’s housepainters would say: Tan, Green, Yellow, Blue and Pink. Yes: Lovely midcentury appropriate pastels.
Hello, all! By far, the best towel I’ve ever used (and I’ve bought too many others at all price points to count over the years) are Espalma Seven Hundred 100% Cotton/Algodon. Mine say Made in Brazil on the tag. I bought the regular size, as I can’t stand unnecessarily huge towels that take forever to dry. I still have the original set purchased at steep discount over eight years ago and they remain beautiful, dry quickly and fluff right up with their relatively short pile. They also have a great mid-century minimal banding design. In fact, I’m still grieving the loss of the one towel that my mother in law mistakenly filched while visiting us in their motorhome a couple of years ago, leaving behind a similar color towel that was hers. That’s how much I love my Espalma!
A Splurge Within Reach, methinks. See all my retro towel research in Bathrooms / Accessories.
Get our retrolicious free newsletter.
I’m so pleased to see jacquards coming back in towel design. These look great! I actually found a pretty bright yellow and white jacquard hand towel at Ikea. No other towels like it though, so I probably missed them when the whole set was available.
Oops, now I remember: not Ikea, it was from Target!
LOVE the Espalma towels!!
And….I haven’t heard the word “grody” in ages. Thanks for the morning chuckle 🙂
I tend to do towels only in white so I can bleach them if necessary. These towels are very pretty and would be a nice addition to my blue and white bathroom but the price is beyond me.
Thanks for the story. And keep on streakin’. ha ha I remember those days. too!
You know that retro is very popular when you can buy the “look” at the retail stores. I thought some of the shower curtains at Pottery Barn also had a retro look. This site was ahead of the trend!
Those look awesome! Like the color selection.
Hey Pam — sorry to hijack this thread. Your contact page said it’s better to sneak in a question to you in this way. I am desperately hoping to win a wonderful catalog with gorgeous color photos of home interiors for 1937. The pix are just the kind you feature in your resource articles.
Question — though this precedes the date of RR’s focus, would you be interested in me sending you scans? It’s nice to see how style and design evolves…
But if these images are too early for you, no worries.
Wish me luck!
(And now, back to fabulous towel talk.)
Thanks! Chris
Never mind…. someone else got it, darn it. Sad me.
Love these! That said, they are too pricey for our budget. Although….if they truly last as long as Nanne’s comment indicates, they are probably worth it.
Beautiful! Can’t afford them though!
Thanks for the info. I love my similiar towels that I bought from Antropology years ago. They aged very well. I am definitely going to give these a try.
I am going to ask for a set in pink for my birthday. I love the look and hopefully they will be worth the do re mi.
Great meeting you tonight! Love your site
lovely- & I love the Mr. Blandings comment! As mentioned on an earlier thread I have blue/olive set from Milliken (Callaway – the label of luxury). I’d love a new set of towels – may have to save for some 🙂
More jacquard towels at http://www.gaiam.com/product/luxury+jacquard+towels.do although the organic cotton makes them quite pricey!
Great find! Thank you, Wink!