Liberty Florals - Petals of Style

If a brand encapsulates the floral flurries of Spring, Liberty of London is it. Founded in 1875 and set in mock-Tudor architectural surroundings, the heritage London department store epitomises style all to itself.
  
Liberty fabrics are closely associated with what defines the quintessential Liberty print: small-scale floral motifs, paisley, and hand-drawn flowers, which confer it renown the world over. The designs combine style, freshness, feminity and timelessness in a loving embrace set to beautify homes, clothing and accessories. Throughout its history, the brand has involved artists and designers, such as William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, YSL and Vivienne Westwood, on design projects.

The Liberty florals are a success story steeped in history and proud of its legacy, while still remaining resolutely contemporary and appealing to a younger harder-to-please generation of shoppers and homemakers.

"Liberty is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper." (Oscar Wilde)

Sources: (1-4 & 6-7) Photography from Liberty. (1) Mirabelle C Tana Lawn, and (2) Mirabelle A Tana Lawn are both part of the Liberty Art Fabrics collection. This cotton fabric is an archive design from 1962 and is described as 'a typical Liberty floral with a fresh 1960s look to it.' Introduced on Classic Tana for Autumn-Winter 2006. (3) Helena's Meadow A Rossmore Cord Cotton is part of the Liberty Art Fabrics. The design is a small scale version of the 1930s design 'Meadow' which was revived in the 1970s, and it has been a Classic Liberty fabric since 1986. (4) Part of the elegant Flowers of Liberty homeware, kitchenware and giftware collection centrered around three favoured prints (Betsy, Theodora and Wiltshire), is the Theodora Liberty Print Cafetière Cosy. (5) Ranunculus swatch, part of the Liberty Art Fabrics. Photography via Tumblr. (6) Windrush B Tana Lawn Cotton (currently unavailable from the Liberty website), from the Liberty Art Fabrics collection. (7) And yes... As it just so happens that we are Mirabelle by name and Mirabelle by nature, I could not resist displaying a third Mirabelle Tana Lawn colourway! This one is Mirabelle F Tana Lawn. The crisp and dainty Mirabelle Tana Lawn florals are hot contenders for future curtain projects of mine! (8) The last time I was in Liberty was on a short trip to London, back in March 2012. Read all about it from The (Late) Lowdown on London.

Find out more about Liberty's heritage.

YSL Music Legends

Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Chuck Berry >> These musicians are living legends, and we'd be forgiven for calling them family. They are somewhat part of the furniture like grandad's rocking-chair or mum's favourite ornament. And when back in late Summer, YSL approached them as part ot its Saint Laurent Music Project, conducted by photography maestro Hedi Slimane in the form of a classic timeless tribute, a generation of fashionista freshers were about to (re)discover them - and we've happily joined the bandwagon!

Jerry, B.B. and Chuck... We have grown up with those guys playing somewhat in our background without realising it, making themselves familiar to us, weaving the soundtrack to our lives in all sorts of funny and weird ways: either by us rummaging through an older relative's record collection, or hearing their music as part of a movie soundtrack, or their names being mentioned by younger generations of musicians as musical legacy to Rock'n'Roll and Co. Their repertoire is a piece of Americana anthology.

The story even goes deeper, through a fond respectful attachment to the guys (regardless of whether we actually know much about them or listen to their music). They're household names, subliminally ringing a bell in our subconscious. Even if we are no music connoisseur, song titles like 'Great Balls of Fire' by Jerry Lee Lewis, 'Three O'Clock Blues' by B.B. King or 'Johnny B. Goode' by Chuck Berry are bound to - at the very least - ring a bell.

Those music legends are now in their late 70s to mid 80s, and when sadly they pass away, they won't just die, they will enter a form of immortality in the arcana of fame, remembered like Elvis or Sinatra, immortalised in the collective psyche. Those guys were meant to stay, not fade away. Like a classic YSL tuxedo.

Mr. Jerry Lee Lewis, Nesbit, Mississippi, August 15th 2013, wearing his Saint Laurent Classic "Teddy" Tux (pict source)

Mr. B.B. King, Las Vegas, Nevada, September 8th 2013, wearing his Saint Laurent "Le Smoking" (pict source)

Mr. Chuck Berry, Saint Louis, Missouri, September 7th 2013, wearing his Saint Laurent "Teddy" Tux (pict source)