French fancy: Children's clothes designer Rachel Riley shows us around her fabulous fairytale chateau
Last updated at 9:48 AM on 24th November 2008By TESSA-JO WILLIAMS
Children's clothes designer Rachel Riley's life is so like a fairytale that it seems almost inevitable that her home would be a castle.
The creator of the old-world-style smock dresses that have become de rigueur among Hollywood's A-list children does indeed live in a picturesque 16th-century chateau, nestled deep in the Loire Valley.
The mother of three is a Cambridge graduate. As soon as she left university, the catwalk beckoned - and she modelled for seven years doing TV commercials and fashion shows and lived a high-octane fashion life between Paris, New York and Tokyo.
Maximalist's dream: The sitting room in Rachel's chateau with exposed beams and a giant open fire place
Then, as her fashion model career was drawing to a close, she met her future husband Daniel Jouanneau, a fashion photographer, on a photo shoot. After two years living together in Paris, they were desperate to find a country retreat when they came across this chateau set amid 30 acres of land.
With its orangerie, small chapel, rococo turrets and medieval fireplaces, it was the kind of place you'd find once in a lifetime. They knew it was for them.
'We'd been looking for 18 months and this was the only place I really fell in love with,' says Rachel. 'We had a few prerequisites: we wanted somewhere with land, and in a wine-growing region; we knew that would be a friendly area in France, as people tend to bond over a glass of wine.'
The Chateau de La Roche Froissard, their home for more than 16 years, had been owned by an old lady who'd done nothing to it for years.
'We had a lot of things to do, starting with mending a very leaky roof,' says Rachel. 'As finances were tight at first, we had to do everything bit by bit.'
Fairytale style: The neat hallway, left, and the elegant master bedroom, right
Rachel's children are all teenagers, but after the birth of her third child, Rose, she found life in the country quiet and decided to make children's clothes.
'I'd always loved knitting. I used to make dolls' clothes. I started making clothes for my daughter, then friends asked if I could make clothes for their children, too.'
From a fledgling small business in her attic, she now has two stores in London, one in New York and a thriving mail-order business.
Although Rachel lives between France and London, she calls the Loire Valley chateau home, and as soon as the school holidays arrive, the whole family jumps into the car to France or flies to the nearby Tours Airport.
The chateau remains an important part of her business. On the first floor there are five bedrooms - three with en suite bathrooms. Each child has a bedroom, and there's a spare room with yellow wallpaper and a four-poster bed.
The second floor plays host to her work room. An ancient weaving loom they bought second hand takes up most of the space.
Country retreat: Rachel's favourite room, the blue bathroom, left, and the rustic dining room, right
Although today many of her clothes are made in Hong Kong, in the early days everything was produced and hand-sewn in the studio by local seamstresses.
Rachel had no fashion design training, but she did take a pattern-cutting course in Paris.
She says: 'My favourite room is the blue bathroom on the first floor - we found this beautiful Wedgwood blue wallpaper from Mauny with white doves on it.
'Also, there is a vintage sink we sourced from a reclamation yard in Paris. Most of the furniture we found at flea markets in Paris and Saumur.'In the sitting room there's a walnut baby grand piano bought in Clignancourt market in Paris. On top sits an array of photographs and several huge bunches of roses.
Their home is a maximalist's dream and luxurious in an old-fashioned sense. There is a refreshing lack of mod cons. No plasma screen TVs here, just a tiny portable in the kitchen.
'We only just had wireless internet installed,' Rachel says. 'But both my husband and I have a magpie's eye for collecting.' One glance proves they're rather good at it.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1088743/French-fancy-Childrens-clothes-designer-Rachel-Riley-shows-fabulous-fairytale-chateau.html#ixzz0T3fupJUt
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