Arthur Liberty(founder of Liberty)
“I was determined not to
follow existing fashion
but to create new ones.”
It's the kind of brand that many fashion minions will probably never really know about or give credit, but none-the-less it is a fashion retailer truly at large. One of the leading destination stores in London, a wonderful emporium where the latest fashions sit alongside our applauded design classics. After learning about Liberty's resent collaboration with leading sports brand Nike, I was quiet enthused by the history it had with it's famous print that smothered the Nike sneakers.
Shortly after the Liberty shop opened on Regent Street in 1875, Arthur Liberty printed the first of the soon to be famous Liberty Silks. Imported from India, the Mysore silk was dyed in England and then hand-printed with wooden blocks. Liberty prints are intrinsic to the Liberty brand, with the first print works housed in South London in 1904. Over the years there have been various fashions in Liberty print, from 1910's art nouveau to 1930s Tana Lawn (the ditsy sprig we now know as Tana Lawn is said to derive from the cotton used in the 1930's that was ‘quite creasy’, the floral print came in handy for disguising this) and 1970's paisleys and geometrics. We see and wear a reworked William Morris-eqsue floral print work on the Nike's based on a 70's design, a 1930's blossom print and a paisley based on an early 20th century print. Somehow these seemingly disparate prints live harmoniously together as a print on print trend.
No comments:
Post a Comment