Silhouette and Pirouette are both Hunter Douglas fabric shades built to soften light instead of blocking it outright, and both use vanes that tilt for privacy. The difference is construction. Silhouette suspends slim S-shaped vanes between two sheer fabric panels, so you view the outside through fabric even when the vanes are open. Pirouette attaches wider, flatter vanes to a single sheer backing, so opening the vanes gives you a much clearer view straight through the window. Silhouette reads sleeker and more uniform. Pirouette reads softer, with more visible fabric texture.
Silhouette shades suspend vanes that float freely between two layers of sheer fabric, which is what gives the shade its signature glow. Tilt the vanes open and the sheer backing filters and diffuses the light coming in, so the room brightens without hard glare. Tilt them closed and the vanes overlap for privacy and stronger light control, while the sheer layers keep the room from feeling shut in. There's no visible frame or hardware doing the work. It's fabric front to back, which is why Silhouette has become the shade people picture when they think of soft, filtered light done well.
Pirouette shades use the Invisi-Lift system: fabric vanes attached along a single sheer backing, with no exposed rear cords or tapes. Open, the vanes lay flatter than Silhouette's, giving a more direct view to the outside while the sheer backing still provides a baseline of privacy at all times. Rotate the vanes closed and you get more privacy plus stronger light control, though the sheer layer keeps filtering light so the room isn't fully dark unless you add a room-darkening liner. Because everything mounts to one backing rather than floating between two layers, Pirouette has a slightly more substantial, drapery-like presence on the window.
If the priority is a clear view to the outside when the shade is open, Pirouette's wider vanes give you more of that than Silhouette's slimmer floating vanes. If the priority is the most even, glare-free diffusion of light with the least visible mechanism, Silhouette is the more refined option. Both give you meaningful nighttime privacy once the vanes are closed, though interior lighting can still cast soft silhouettes after dark on either product, so bedrooms that need full opacity should look at a room-darkening liner on top.
Living rooms and dining rooms suit both equally well, and the choice usually comes down to which look you prefer rather than which performs better. Large picture windows and formal spaces tend to favor Pirouette's fuller vanes, since they scale up cleanly and PowerView motorization handles the weight of bigger installations without effort. Bedrooms and home offices where filtered light matters more than an unobstructed view tend to favor Silhouette. Kitchens work with either. If the window sits close to the range, talk through fabric choice at the consultation.
Silhouette's sheer fabric panels filter up to 88% of UV rays even with the vanes open, and that protection increases further when the vanes are closed. Pirouette's sheer backing filters UV continuously as well, with the vanes open or closed. Either product will meaningfully slow fading on floors, furniture, and artwork near a sunny window compared to bare glass.
Cordless lift is standard across the Pirouette line and available on every Silhouette model, which removes dangling cords as a hazard in homes with kids or pets. PowerView motorization is available on both, and it's a genuinely useful upgrade here, since it lets you schedule the shades to open at sunrise or close at dusk without touching a cord or wand. Both products carry a Hunter Douglas warranty, and Spokane Blinds handles local installation and service on either.
Silhouette comes in a range of neutral tones, soft pastels, and richer deeper hues, chosen to coordinate with almost any existing color palette rather than force a redecorating decision around the shade. Pirouette's fabric range runs across both warm and cool tones, which is part of why interior designers reach for it in rooms where the shade needs to sit quietly alongside furniture and wall color that's already settled. Neither product is meant to be the loudest thing in the room. The visual interest comes from the texture and the way light moves through the fabric, not from a bold pattern, so most homeowners find the color decision is more about matching undertones than picking a statement shade.
Both products sit in Hunter Douglas's specialty shade category, which puts them above a basic roller or cellular shade in price, driven mainly by window size, fabric choice, and whether you add PowerView motorization. We're not going to attach a number to either product here, since the range is wide and depends entirely on your specific windows. A free in-home consultation gets you an exact, measured quote for both, so you can compare them side by side before deciding.
Photos flatten what makes both of these products worth the money, since the whole appeal is how the fabric behaves as you tilt it. Spokane Blinds runs both Silhouette and Pirouette on real windows in the Spokane Valley showroom, motorized, so you can work the controls and watch the light change before deciding anything. If you've already read up on whether Silhouette is worth it for your home, our Spokane homeowner review of Silhouette shades covers that question directly. For more on how Pirouette changes a room, see how Pirouette shades transform a living space.
Book a free consultation and we'll bring both products to your windows.
Silhouette suspends slim S-shaped vanes between two sheer fabric panels, so you see the outside through fabric even with the vanes open. Pirouette attaches wider vanes to a single sheer backing, giving a clearer direct view when open. Pirouette reads softer and more dimensional; Silhouette reads sleeker.
Yes. The wider fabric vanes scale well on picture windows, and PowerView motorization handles the added weight and span that would be heavy to lift by hand.
Yes, Silhouette is available in a range of vane sizes along with different fabric colors and opacity levels, so it can be matched to different window sizes and how much privacy a room needs.
Yes, with Hunter Douglas PowerView, including scheduling, smartphone app control, and voice assistant integration. Both Silhouette and Pirouette run motorized in our Spokane Valley showroom if you want to see it in action.
Both provide strong daytime and evening privacy once the vanes are closed, but interior lights can still cast soft silhouettes after dark on either product. For a bedroom that needs full opacity, ask about adding a room-darkening liner.
Regular light dusting with a feather duster or a vacuum on low suction with a brush attachment is enough for both. Avoid water and avoid pressing directly on the vanes, since that can distort the fabric.
Either works well in a kitchen. The bigger factor is fabric choice near cooking areas. Ask about wipeable or more washable fabric options during your consultation if the window sits close to the range.
Have more questions? Spokane Blinds offers free in-home consultations across Spokane and the Inland Northwest.
