‘PRINTS CHARMING’ – BLOOMING MARVELLOUS!

Kate Moss for Topshop

In a celebration of their iconic Liberty prints, the legendary
British store LIBERTY did a fantastic little exhibition called
Prints Charming. Among the pieces in the show were
especially commissioned lamps, mirrors, wallpapers, toys,
umbrellas, scarves, underwear, a bicycle, sunglasses, bird
houses, tea pots, homewares, wellies, chairs and side tables,
among various other pieces, all inspired in Liberty fabrics.

Taking place in the store’s revamped fourth floor,
the exhibition also featured artists and fashion designers
whose work has also been inspired by Liberty prints.

I loved that they went to the lengths of draping the Carnaby
Street facade in Betsy print to go with the opening of the
exhibition, how cute was that!

It was wonderful too see the various uses of the print over time,
from archive images of YSL and Vivienne Westwood’s fantastic
Fall 1994 show, in which she re-created a liberty print into a 3D
dress - one of Vivienne’s personal favourites.

And one of my favourite ever Westwood collections…
(warning, this video is not for the faint hearted and
may result in a serious case of Westwood addiction
among other symptoms):

These gorgeous shoes and socks are a re-ocurrent subject 
in my dreams…

And I wouldn’t mind having these itsy-betsy lovelies either
please Vivienne.

Also featured was the chic RTW Spring Summer 2007 collection
of Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, which Vogue described as:
“a menagerie of luxury haberdashery from a vintage palace” .

Marc’s  models swept down the catwalk in swathes of Liberty print
and the LV campaign for that season starred sex kitten Scarlet Johansson wearing that fabulous Liberty print Louis Vuitton corset.

Louis Vuitton RTW SS 2007

Also present was Japan-tastic Junya Watanabe,
who gave the iconic print an avant-garde edge in his
Spring Summer 2008 collection:

The print looked delightful in the fabulous Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony, proving that a bit of Betsy can also be
edgy and cool.

And of course style queen Kate Moss is also part of the flower
troop with her Kate Moss for Topshop exclusive Liberty print
pieces:

Most surprisingly sports legend Nike also joined the pack with
those oh-so-coveted Nike trainers that were the must have, all
over fashion land recently, making fashionistas left right and
centre go mad about … trainers?!?

The print is also used in crafts to come up with lovely little things
such as these cute bunnies made from Liberty Print:

And these adorable vintage style “boudoir sofa dolls” made
by textile artist Amanda Fatherazi, which also incorporate
the print in their little clothes….awwww!

Among the art pieces exhibited was the fabulous work of  Artist Helen Carmel Benigson with her Liberty print “Wendy House”.

And a series of pink monoprints:

A very unusual chandelier by Squint and a silk chiffon scarve
designed by Turner Prize winner artist Grayson Perry:

And these fabulous snake print wallpapers designed by
rock and roll royalty Meg Matthhews:

I love this one…

Notably absent was a mention to these sultry Liberty print pieces by
Agent Provocateur…. How could they miss that?!

So… after all that little flowery parade, the song of the day
is one that kept playing in my little head whilst looking at this
wonderful exhibition last week. Guessed it yet?

XO
Nona

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