Liberty in Fashion

Lovely exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the role the Liberty shop has had in fashion since it’s foundation 1875.

This was a simply but well laid out exhibition. It made good use of raised metal platform with wooden tops with some mannequins standing on the top of them, some standing inside with the top removed and some sitting on them. This gave very simple levels and allowed you to see the individual garments but also created nice ensemble displays.

I liked the early section on artist dressing with wonderful late 19th century aesthetic dresses. I loved a navy dress shown against peacock feathers and I so wanted a dark green pleated dress with a lovely cream embroidered yoke.

There was a nice section on smocking talking about how the shop revived traditional techniques. It also included dresses by Annabelinda which I remember well from their shop in Oxford when I was a child. I often pressed my nose up against the window and imagined having one of their dresses. 

A few of the displays showed the use of Liberty printed materials at different periods of time. Of course I found the 1970s one very nostalgic. I liked the way the colours were matched subtly in the displays.

Closes on 28 February 2016

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