This exhibition opened in October 2015. I was so looking forward to this exhibition and it far exceeded my expectations. The public are allowed to take photographs without flash. In this museum we always have the added advantage of not having to view exhibits behind glass as in the V&A and at the Bath Fashion Museum.
Illustration for wall mural in the Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015 designed by Naomi Kratz
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. These two exhibits are a c1910 afternoon dress and an 1895 collar
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. A detail of the embroidery on the 1910 afternoon dress.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. A 1895 satin collar embroidered with white floss, crystal beads and pastes.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. This is a traditional silk embroidered kimino that had been imported by Liberty in the 1920s.
Even the Liberty's sales assistants wore these kiminos to promote their sales in the store!
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. These dresses are mostly from the 1960s and show the influence of the Art Nouveau Revival at the time.
From 1958 to 1960 there were a series of exhibitions on the Art Nouveau period (from 1895 through to WWI). This movement had been dismissed and forgotten after WWI. Liberty saw the potential of referencing their own archives from that period for possible new designs to print for their current textiles. One of their designers, William Poole, redrew a selection of the company's original Art Nouveau patterns, and to contemporise them he repainted them in the vivid Pop colours of the early 1960s. They became known as the 'Lotus' collection. They were sold as dress fabrics. They became popular with British designers in the 1960s.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. The maxi dress in the middle is a late 1960s Colin Glascoe (London designer) dress.
Liberty's were very annoyed that Colin Glascoe never acknowledged that he was using their prints for his designs. He ordered thousands of metres from Liberty. Still goes on today. Very rarely do we see the artistic directors of embroidery ateliers or fabric print designers being acknowledged today - and their studios are design laboratories.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. The 'Swinging Liberty' exhibits. All the fabrics are by Liberty and the garments are designed by young British designers in the 1960s.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. This print was designed by Richard Nevill. The dress was made for 'Through the Looking Glass, the most popular fashion shop in Liverpool, UK
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. The prints for these 1970s garments were either designed by Richard Nevill, Susan Collier or Sarah Campbell - all design consultants for Liberty.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. This early 1970s dress was designed by Foale and Tuffin. They loved to mix prints and here they have used prints designed by Richard Nevill, Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. This ensemble was in Foale & Tuffins A/W 1972 Collection. The prints are Richard Nevill's.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. The print is Richard Nevill's.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. This is Richard Nevill's print from his landscape range that he designed in 1968. He was inspired by 1930s travel posters.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, Bermondsey, London 2015. This print has been borrowed from a tapestry designed by Gunta Stolzl, a Bauhaus student in the 1920s. This was a very popular design for Liberty.