“On layovers, I would seek out the international brocante markets,” says Emily. “When others were looking at clothes, I was on the floor going through stacks of old Aubusson tapestries at the Paris Flea Market.” When the book Antique French Textiles for Designers by June K. Laval was published in 2004, Emily absorbed every word and had a clear vision of how she would put this newly gleaned knowledge to use. On her subsequent trip to Paris, she simply showed pictures from the volume to the dealers, and they pointed her toward the ecclesiastical robes and garments where she could browse to her heart’s content.
