Liberty in Fashion - a Review

The Fabric of Fashion.  Liberty began producing delicate floral prints before the First World War and this increased rapidly during the inter-war period.  Textiles such as Tana Lawn and Sungleam crepe were extremely popular and were sold as finished garments as well as lengths for the home sewer.  Liberty scarves, then as now, were a highlight for many.

Anyone interested in or familiar with British fashion and fabrics would know the name Liberty which needs no introduction.   As a name well-acclaimed for its distinctive textile prints, Liberty's instantly recognisable patterns of small scale, densely patterned floral designs have accompanied many of my childhood moments.  My mom used to make small beany toys and our Sunday dresses with their fabrics.  Equally, well-known Liberty prints that include variations of the peacock feather design, and the iconic Ianthe print with origins of the French Art Nouveau period have been rediscovered and reinterpreted many times over.  Liberty fabrics remains popular on furnishing and fashion fabrics up to this day, and its archive continues to be used for new creations to be enjoyed by the young generation.

Levi's denim separates for SS 2013
 in partnership with Liberty of London.

I recall two years ago, the American heritage denim brand Levi’s teamed up with Liberty of London on a collection of women's denim separates that featured two new Liberty prints - created exclusively for the partnership.  While the denim designs were sourced from Levi's archive, similarly, the garden flower prints were based on a Liberty pattern from the Seventies - redrawn with watercolour pencils and put into a repeat design, plus another print based on a Pointillist painting from the Liberty archive that dates back to 1940. 

Exhibition banner featuring an example of
an Art Nouveau design, from the book
Liberty and Co. in the Fifties and
Sixties, published by Antique Collectors Club.

So when I heard that London’s Fashion and Textile Museum (FTM) will be opening a new major exhibition on Liberty, I seized an opportunity to have a sneak preview ahead of the official opening. With high hopes for a great experience, I was not disappointed that the exhibition offers great insights into its vast archive of prints, the stories behind them and the print house's importance in British fashion history up until now.   

Liberty in Fashion, which opens on October 9^th and runs until 28 February 2016 at the FTM and in Bermondsey (a stone’s throw from the Chard in London Bridge), charts its contribution to British fashion in its 140-year history, both that produced by the company and its impact on the work of other designers.  This is the first retrospective on Liberty since the Victoria and Albert Museum’s 1975 exhibition to document Liberty’s first centenary. 

A design depicting the historic Liberty Building
designed by Susan Collier and
Sarah Campbell c 1974
One of the displayed work in 
The Art of Pattern concurrently
held at the Fashion and Textile Museum.

The FTM exhibition not only highlights Liberty as a pioneering retailer of international standing (its Tudor-style Regent Street department store remains a major fashion and lifestyle shopping destination in London’s west end) and demonsstrate its influence through the decades and eras of successive art movements up to the present day. 

Founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty, the store began in 1875 originally as a warehouse selling coloured silks sourced from the Far East (when Japan opened up to trade with the West in the 1850s), North Africa and India, along with costumes, fans, china, lacquer and enamel wares.  As its influence and strong identity in fabric patterns continued to grow, it became a department store offering not only fashion but interior objects and designs as well, including lacquerware, cloisonné enamel, oriental goods and then furniture.

“Every garment in the exhibition has been carefully chosen to enable the Museum to represent the incredible range of textile designs created by the firm as well as to present an argument about why Liberty is always ‘in fashion’,” said Denis Nothdruft, curator of Liberty in Fashion, seen here with two cloaks from the Aesthetic movement that made reference to the past and the East and became the preferred style for women 

with artistic taste and an important element of the Liberty look.

But as the name suggests, Liberty in Fashion focuses “consciously on clothing, from a fashion prospective,” according to curator Dennis Nothdruft, and in showcasing some 150 garments, textiles and objects it demonstrates Liberty’s strong relationships with designers,  and the fashion world not only in the UK but also in Paris.  Dennis said 95% of the exhibits are from private collection.

While it celebrates Liberty as the fashionable place to shop, the exhibition also emphasizes its role as the source and originator of key trends in fashion history.

“Every garment in the exhibition has been carefully chosen to enable the Museum to represent the incredible range of textile designs created by the firm as well as to present an argument about why Liberty is always ‘in fashion’,” said Dennis.

In a room as an introduction to the exhibition, the iconic © Ianthe print is found on sofa and as backdrop wallpapr in the display cabinet.  The classic print design was originally creted as a wallpaper border by French Art Nouveau designer c. 1902, first printed for fashion in 1967 and then reworked as furnishing fabric for the Jubilee Collection.

The journey starts in a room as an introduction prior to the entrance of the exhibition.  Here you'll find on one wall a chronology of Liberty's history and a display of garments that were created by Liberty’s Costume Department, showcasing Arthus Liberty's vision to create new fashion rather than following the existing styles.  He began at Farmr and Rogers Great Cloak and Shawl Emporium in Regent Street and was soon put in charge of the Oriental Department where he met and was befriended by the artists and intellectuals of the Aesthetic Movement.  It was this patronage that would help him when he left Farmer and Rogers to establish his own shop across the street.  Among the architects of the Aesthetic movement was designer EW Godwin.

As the visitor enters the main exhibition, you enter an area entitled A Dialogue with the East, and immediately presented with a selection of designs showing how Liberty took inspiration from the East for its own textiles and collections, including the kimono, which provided the basis for dressing gowns and wraps,  and the burnous (long hooded cloak worn by Arabs).

The Aesthetic movement promoted a romantic, fluid way of dressing and the idea of hitoric and artistic dressing continued as an important element of the Liberty look.  While garments made by Liberty were in demand, during the years of make-do-and-mend in the inter-world-war period, home dress-making was popular.

One fine example was a 1930s silk lamé home-made dress that had been altered and updated over time, as shown here on the right The print of the fashion used is in fact upside down and inside out. The fabric is a silk gauze block printed with metallic effect.

From Orientalism and Aesthetic dress in the 19th century, Liberty continues to play a key role through the Art Nouveau movement in early 20th century, and the exhibition also shows a revival of these styles since the 1950s.

Art Nouveau ptterns such as the Lotus were re-coloured in vivid shades during the 1950s and 60s.

It was interesting to note Liberty was responsible for the rediscovery of a variety of traditional skills including smocking, found on clothes worn by agricultural labourers in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, which became a trademark of the retailer.

The art of smocking was rvived in early 1970s as part of the
nosstalgic mood of the decade.

Before the First World War, Liberty began producing delicate floral prints and this increased rapidly during the inter-war period.  These have grown to become the archetypical Liberty print.  Textiles such as Tana Lawn and Sungleam crepe were popular as lengths for the home sewer (like my mom) and as finished garments.

The Liberty Design Studio was established in the 1950s to produce and commission the best in patterned and woven textiles. 

Swinging Liberty

During the years of the Swinging 60s, Liberty was working with designers (including Mary Quant, Foal and Tuffin and Jean Muir), and into the 1970s, Liberty prints were once again rediscovered by a new generation of designers, not just in London but also in Paris, including Yves St Laurent.

1970s Nostalgia.  Dress in foreground is by
Jeff Banks.

Nike x Liberty

Vivienne Westwood Red Label SS2013.
Westwood used Rachel Pedder Smith's
"Floral Eve" print silk design.

As Liberty’s collaborative relationships with designers, artists and stylists expanded from the 1990s, its distinctive prints and fabrics included a roll-call of British and international names from Cacharel, Vivienne Westwood and also the New York-based Anna Sui and Japanese designer Junya Watanabe, along with Kenzo and British brands Barbour, Harris Tweed and Dr. Marten.

Liberty Today.
A display by Liberty's instore Visual |Merchandising Team.
Just as Arthur Liberty's aim was, as he said himself, to create new fashions,
Liberty today conltines to inform and educate as well as to inspire and delight its customers.

All photos by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect.