The fabric of London: 150 years of Liberty
By DAisy Rought-Oram
A history of Liberty London in some of its most iconic designs.
2025 marked 150 years of Liberty London, a department store known for its bold floral patterns and quality fabrics. Established in 1875 by Arthur Lasenby Liberty, Liberty London has produced some iconic designs throughout its 150 year history. With its flagship mock-Tudor store located on Great Marlborough Street, the store sits in central London, a fitting location for an institution at the heart of London’s art scene and cultural history. The design of Liberty’s prints, as well as who designed them and how they have been used, tell a history of London that you might never find in a history book.
Liberty London became known for the Liberty Scarf, still one of their most iconic products. What I love about the Liberty Scarf is that it perfectly showcases the patterns and prints that Liberty has to offer. There are no folds, pleats, darts, or hemlines to disrupt the flow of the design; a versatile accessory, the Liberty Scarf can be styled with almost anything, and they come in almost all of Liberty’s designs. In her 1930s booklet ‘She Bought a Liberty Scarf’, illustrator and cartooner Joyce Denny wrote of the versatility of the Liberty Scarf, accompanied with gorgeous illustrations depicting the different ways to wear one.
Ianthe is one of Liberty’s most recognised and well-known designs. Appearing on everything from the classic scarf to notebooks and hand towels, this popular Art Nouveau staple has been reimagined in multiple colourways since it was first printed for Liberty in 1967. The 1960s were host to an ‘Art Nouveau Revival’, and Ianthe was Liberty’s contribution. The design was modelled on French artist Rene Beauclair’s c.1902 wallpaper border. It was an immediate hit, and became part of the store’s Tana Classics collection in 1986. Ianthe has been recently adapted into Iphis, a new print designed to speak to a modern audience.
Born in Trinidad, Althea McNish moved to London in 1951 where she had a place to study at the Architectural School of Architecture, but took classes at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts, the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and the Royal College of Art. According to the Liberty website, she was commissioned “on the spot” by Arthur Stewart-Liberty just a day after her graduation from her postgraduate studies in Textiles at the Royal College of Art. She soon became one of Liberty’s most iconic designers, and rose to international acclaim.
I first discovered Althea McNish’s designs at an exhibition showcasing her work at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, in 2022. Her designs include all the features characteristic of classic Liberty designs: bold colour, florals, and repeated motifs. Yet her ability to combine these hallmark traits with something that seems decisively new is where her brilliance lies. Chelsea, McNish’s 1958 avant garde design featuring flower bouquets in bright and contrasting colours, is one of my personal favourites. Its overlapping blues, yellows, oranges, and pinks leave realism behind; after the monochrome gloom of the postwar era, these bold designs were just what the fashion world needed. Hula Hula, a 1963 design, carefully balances pink, orange, and yellow, to create an energetic spiral-esque pattern. McNish said of her work, “everything I did, I saw through a tropical eye”; she brought postwar London to life with her designs. McNish’s ability to create movement, cohesion, and striking colourways show the workings of a design mastermind.
A classic of Liberty’s trademark Tana Lawn collection is Poppy and Daisy, a design suited to summer dresses and long skirts. It seems like the kind of print that would have been worn by characters in Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited or L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between. It first appeared in the early 1900s, making it one of Liberty’s earliest designs, and has since been made in a variety of colourways ranging from warm and bright yellows and reds to cooler blue tones. I had a skirt in a blue rendition of Poppy and Daisy as a child, and would love to make another one for my 21-year-old self!
A print that shows the interaction between Liberty’s classic designs and pop culture is Corbusier, designed by Bernard Nevill and named after the modernist architect, Le Corbusier. Nevill was hired initially as a design consultant, but became design director soon after. Corbusier was featured on the front cover of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, highlighting Liberty’s continuing relevance at the heart of popular culture. Futuristic and geometric, the design was perfect for Bowie, and a prime choice for a redesign as part of the ‘FuturLiberty’ collection designed and collated to celebrate the 150th anniversary year.
With its designs having been worn by people from fin de siecle flaneurs and flaneuses, to late 20th century pop cultural figures like David Bowie, Liberty is nothing less than a London institution. Its frequent reimaginings of classic prints in response to style preferences, and its designs that reflect the constantly changing and dynamic character that makes London the wonderful place it is today, underpin Liberty’s longevity and continued relevance throughout its 150 year history.
Image Credit: James Petts via Wikimedia Commons
