Catherine Martin Debuts Fabrics Inspired by Elvis Presley for Mokum

Designer Catherine Martin’s newest textile and wallcovering collection for Mokum, the Royal Menagerie, is inspired by her sets for the new movie “Elvis.” Bold textures and patterns such as velvets and animal prints are an exploration in 1970’s maximalism. They cleverly reimagine aspects of Graceland and the suite Elvis stayed in during his Las Vegas residency. 

Some highlights. Monarque is a dense viscose velvet with a soft drape, in solid jewel tones. Bengal Tiger has the look of cut velvet with its wild embossed tiger stripes. Monkey Business, a wallpaper, incorporates the monkey figurines that dotted Elvis’s beloved green shag carpeted jungle suite. Royal Peacock, a drapery fabric and wallpaper sparked by Graceland’s stained-glass peacock windows, repeats the bird that was a talisman for Elvis amid lush botanicals. Then there’s the wonderfully dimensional Panthera, in which an embroidered lithe leopard stalks its way across a solid ground. (That one references the King’s embellished jumpsuits.) Colorways run from “whisky-tinged blush,” as Mokum design director Stephanie Moffitt puts it, to dark teals and burnished gold. There are plain weaves and solid hues, yes, but the power is in the decorative offerings. “As a child of the 70s,” Martin notes, “I have an affinity for pattern.”