Liberty in Fashion opens at Fashion and Textile Museum

Liberty in Fashion - an exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum
9 October 2015 - 28 February 2016

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.

1970s Nostalgia.
The quintessential Liberty prints, the small dense florals had been produced by the company for 50 years, perfectly suited the period and were a favourite of designers.

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 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. 

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.

1970s Nostalgia

The exhibition proves to be an important must-see event for all working in fashion and textiles and historian with a particular interest in not only prints and colours, but how Liberty has played an important role in British fashion even today.  

A display created by Liberty's in-store Visual Merchandising Team.
Since opening its doors in 1875, Libety has offered its customers an exciting and eclectic mix of beautiful goods sourced from around the world.

To read the full review, click HERE.

Coinciding with Liberty in Fashion is a sister event called:-

The Art of Pattern

Susan Collier & Sarah Campbell for Liberty 1961 – 77.

Also not to be missed, this side- exhibition features textile designs by Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell, two designers (they are sisters) whose free hand painted patterns paved the way for a vibrant new aesthetic in Liberty prints, including the hugely successful ‘Bauhaus’ range.

Sarah Campbell 

In a dedicated room upstairs, you will find over 100 original painted designs, sketches, printed swatches, lengths and objects of the designers’ work.

For a review of the Art of Pattern exhibition, click on it listed at the right, or click HERE.

Feeling inspired and energized by the treasure trove of designs of Liberty in Fashion and The Art of Pattern, you may want to visit the FTM shop on the way out.
are a range of Liberty focused books, stationery, finished garment products and small lengths of fabrics in Liberty archetypical print, and among my favourite are the limited edition handmade dolls, using vintage Liberty fabrics, by Sarah Campbell.

All photos by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect.